At least 40 people have been killed in heavy gunbattles between Lebanese troops and Islamist extremists in the north of the country.
The army said 23 soldiers and 19 gunmen were killed in the deadliest fighting with Islamists for seven years that erupted in the northern city of Tripoli and a nearby Palestinian refugee camp.
A number of the Islamists were arrested but fighting continued in other districts of the city, which is located about 85km north of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The assault was launched after fierce fighting in Tripoli and a nearby Palestinian refugee camp between Fatah al-Islam militants and members of Lebanese security forces.
Lebanese security chief, General Ashraf Rifi said that 11 people, seven soldiers and four militants, had been killed in those clashes.
Meanwhile, a woman has been killed and six others were wounded in a bomb explosion near a shopping centre in eastern Beirut.
Witnesses have said the bomb appeared to have exploded under a car in a car park near the ABC department store, one of the biggest stores in Lebanon.
