"(CNN) -- Lebanon's military on Friday launched a new artillery attack on a Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli where Islamic militants have been holed up.
The renewed fighting comes after more than a week of only sporadic clashes between the military and the militants of Fatah al-Islam, which is said to be affiliated with al Qaeda and is barricaded inside the Nahr al-Bared camp.
It was some of the heaviest daylight artillery fire seen since the start of the campaign to root out the militant faction. Tanks were on the move in the area.
The fighting at the camp near Tripoli, which started May 20, is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1990.
Nahr al-Bared is one of several Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon dating back to the 1948 Mideast war that followed the creation of Israel.
The offensive comes a day after officials announced a second round of U.S. military resupply flights had begun arriving in Beirut. The latest shipments included tank and artillery ammunition. Arab nations have also assisted in resupplying the Lebanese military.
U.S. military officials confirmed the first of 13 expected C-17 flights arrived on Wednesday and will continue through next week.
The flights will depart from Germany, carrying ammunition supplies requested by the Lebanese government.
This followed a first round of eight flights that took place several days earlier after the Lebanese government made an emergency request to the United States.
The Lebanese government said it needed the ammunition supplies because it had used up critical stocks in the operation against Fatah al-Islam militants in Tripoli. The first round of resupply flights carried in small caliber ammunition.
The resupply mission is being conducted by C-17s because they have the most capable defensive measures against potential threats from shoulder-fired missiles, according to U.S. officials.
The White House considers Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government a critical ally in the Middle East. President Bush has cited Lebanon's democratic institutions as signs to the broader Arab world that democracy can work in the region.
Siniora has claimed that Syria is backing the militants and fomenting violence in Lebanon. Damascus has denied that accusation.
Siniora and his anti-Syrian colleagues maintain a weak grip on power and face a serious challenge from politicians from the pro-Syrian Hezbollah movement, who were emboldened after last summer's war with Israel.
Lebanon's renewed offensive flies in the face of warnings voiced last week by the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah, in a televised address, said if the Lebanese army entered the camp it would be crossing a red line. (Full story)
The Lebanese military has stayed out of the Palestinian camps under a 1969 agreement that allows the Palestinians to run them.
Although critical of the Lebanese military, Nasrallah also meted out strong comments against the militants in the camp -- accusing them of an aggression against the army that was an aggression against all of Lebanon.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite faction, views extremist Sunni groups such as al Qaeda and Fatah al-Islam as enemies."
It worked. I didn't prove anything about my time travel yet but if you knew the situation you wouldn't mind.
-Joe
