BIBNEEN, Lebanon (AP) - In the unkempt cemetery of this hilltop town lie six of Lebanon's young soldiers, killed in battles with Islamist militants in a Palestinian refugee camp not far away.Three months of fighting at the Nahr el-Bared camp has for the first time made the military popular in Lebanon - but for impoverished towns like Bibneen, the army has long been a way of life and a source of income for youth who otherwise can find no work.
The toll paid by Bibneen is evident at its cemetery. "Do not count as dead those killed for the sake of God, for they are alive with their Lord," reads a Quranic verse carved into the six soldiers' tombstones, standing amid the weeds and litter. A seventh Bibneen resident killed in the battle is buried in the nearby city of Tripoli.