NAHR AL-BARED (Lebanon), May 30: Fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants flared again as their deadly standoff entered its 10th day on Wednesday and relief workers tried to get aid to stranded civilians.

Adding to the tensions in Lebanon, the UN Security Council was set to vote on a court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, an issue that has led to the paralysis of the Western-backed government.

The two sides traded fire sporadically through the night, according to a correspondent at the Nahr al-Bared camp, where troops have laid siege to the Fatah al-Islam group since its fighters attacked army targets on May 20.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. On Tuesday, a soldier was killed in a firefight, bringing to 79 the death toll from the bloodiest internal unrest in Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war.

Sporadic fighting has erupted almost daily at the impoverished northern shantytown near the Mediterranean coast, although the fierce gunbattles of the early days of the standoff have subsided amid efforts to mediate a peaceful solution.

The Daily Star newspaper said on Tuesday's battle, sparked when several members of the militia attacked an army post, marked the most intense fighting since a shaky truce took hold a week earlier.

While some leaders within the ruling coalition have called for the army to storm the Islamists positions, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora is adamant efforts must first be made to try to achieve a peaceful solution to the crisis.

A three-member delegation of clerics from the Union of Palestinian Scholars met militants in the camp on Sunday after winning approval from Lebanese authorities, Palestinian factions and Fatah al-Islam to mediate.

Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha said the group was refusing to surrender any of its militants despite demands of the Lebanese government which has vowed to crush the “terrorist phenomenon.” “We are still working with the delegation of the Union of Palestinian Scholars in order to find a political solution,” Taha said on Tuesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued deliveries of supplies on Wednesday to those stranded in the camp without electricity and dwindling supplies.

Trucks piled with water and food were waiting to enter the camp. ICRC officials said eight trucks had on Tuesday delivered food, water and candles.

According to UN estimates, between 3,000 and 8,000 of the 31,000 Palestinian refugees registered at Nahr al-Bared are still inside the camp, while Siniora said on Sunday that 5,000 remained. Some 20,000 people have fled to the nearby Beddawi refugee camp, putting a massive strain on resources there.

Crowded into schools with little food and deteriorating sanitary conditions, those who have taken shelter in Beddawi are forced every evening to scramble for small bags containing bread, jam, cheese and tea distributed by by relief workers, correspondents said.

“About 36,000 people are crammed into two square kilometres” said Yussef Assaad, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent in northern Lebanon.

—AFP