Three people were killed when Lebanese forces opened fire after their vehicle failed to stop at an army checkpoint near Beirut airport, and later a pregnant woman died in a similar incident at a checkpoint in Beirut's Christian quarter.
The soldier was reported killed by a rocket-propelled grenade launched by a Fatah el-Islam gunman holed up with around 150-200 co-fighters in the largely abandoned refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in the northwest of Lebanon. The Lebanese army surrounding the camp has been returning fire since morning.
At least 34 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians have died since May 20 in what is Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The encircled gunmen in Nahr al-Bared have refused calls to surrender. Their ringleader said Monday on a local TV network they would fight to the last "against Jews, Americans and their accomplices," including, as many Lebanese see it, their own pro-Western government.
Palestinian pacification efforts have so far failed, not least because the largest Palestinian National Authority factions Fatah and Hamas are deadlocked in their power struggle.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as another important player in the region, mediating a February power-sharing deal between Fatah and Hamas, which held for nearly three months, and most recently pledging financial aid and support for all Palestinians affected by the violence in Lebanese refugee camps.
