Lebanon's defense minister issued an ultimatum Wednesday to Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp to surrender or face death in a military onslaught, as the army reinforced its positions, raising fears of what could be a bloody showdown.

Since Sunday, heavy clashes between the al Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group and the Lebanese army have left some 50 people dead and dozens wounded near the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

Fatah al-Islam fighters vowed not to give up and to resist any Lebanese assault.

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Storming the Nahr el-Bared camp - a densely built-up town of narrow streets on the Mediterranean coast - could mean rough urban fighting for Lebanese troops and further death and destruction for the thousands of civilians who remain inside.

It could also have grave repercussions elsewhere across troubled Lebanon, sparking unrest among the country's estimated 400,000 Palestinians. Already some of the other refugee camps in Lebanon, which are rife with armed groups, are seething with anger at the fighting.

In a sign of the dangers, a bomb exploded Wednesday night in a mountain resort overlooking Beirut, a 90-minute drive south of Nahr el-Bared, injuring two people - the third blast in the area of the capital since fighting began at the camp Sunday.

Fatah Islam denied responsibility for the other two bombs, which killed a woman and injured a dozen people. But many Lebanese fear the string of bombings could be a warning of more to come if the siege continues.

But the military appeared determined to uproot Fatah Islam after three days of heavy bombardment of the camp, sparked by an attack by the militants on Lebanese troops on Sunday following a raid on its fighters in the nearby northern city of Tripoli.

"Preparations are seriously underway to end the matter," Defense Minister Elias Murr said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television. "The army will not negotiate with a group of terrorists and criminals. Their fate is arrest, and if they resist the army, death."

At least 22 militants, 32 soldiers and 27 civilians have been killed in the fighting this week in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanese army: Body of top Fatah al-Islam official found near camp

Lebanese military officials reported they had retrieved the body of the second-in-command of the Fatah al-Islam militant group Wednesday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said that the Lebanese Civil Defense personnel uncovered the body of Abu Madyan in the area of Abde, just north of the Nahr al-Bared camp on the outskirts of the port city of Tripoli.

Abu Maydan, who was killed in clashes Monday, is the highest-ranking member of the group to be killed since the battles began near the camp Sunday.

Fatah Islam's spokesman Abu Salim Taha was not available to confirm the report.

Though a truce between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army generally held on Wednesday, thousands of refugees fled the devastated camp, fearing the fragile truce would collapse into renewed fighting.

Also on Wednesday, Syria's vice president said that Fatah Islam was able to take hold in Lebanon because the country is weak and divided.

In a lecture he gave at Damascus University, Farouk al-Sharaa said Fatah Islam had been allowed to emerge because of the power vacuum in Lebanon.

"Groups like Fatah Islam ... cannot have a place for themselves except in a weak and divided country," said al-Sharaa.

"Such radical groups were for instance absent from Iraq before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion," he said. "Nor were they present in Lebanon a few years ago," he said.

Syria controlled its smaller Lebanese neighbor for decades until spring 2005, when mass protests and international outcry led to its withdrawal after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Lebanon has since been deeply divided between a powerful pro-Syrian opposition and the Western-backed anti-Syrian government.

Several Lebanese officials have accused Syria of backing the tiny Fatah Islam militant group and say the violence seeks to destabilize the government as it pushes for an international court to try suspects in Hariri's assassination.

Many Lebanese blame Syria for killing Hariri, a charge Damascus denies.

The Syrian government also denies backing Fatah Islam, and Damascus has been cracking down on its own radical Muslim groups.

Al-Sharaa said some Lebanese officials, whom he didn't name, had supported groups like Fatah Islam and now suddenly scream and condemn what is happening, in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp.

"The Lebanese officials' suspicions of a Syrian hand in the clashes stem from their feeling of incapability to run the country, or inability to refuse foreign directions," the Syrian vice president said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will travel to Lebanon this week to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and senior officials on Thursday and Friday, the ministry said in a statement.

"The aim of his visit is to reaffirm France's solidarity with Lebanon and with its population in this critical period, and to reaffirm the importance we attach to the independence, sovereignty and stability of this country," it said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday denounced "criminal attacks" against Lebanese troops fighting Islamist militants in a Palestinian refugee camp and urged immediate access for aid to civilians.

Arab governments promise Lebanon military aid
Arab governments promised military assistance for the Lebanese army on Tuesday at a special meeting called to discuss the army's conflict with militant Islamists at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.

In a statement issued after a meeting in Cairo, ambassadors from Arab League member states said: "The Arab League council ... thanked Arab states which have provided military assistance and equipment to support the Lebanese army and security forces."

"It [the council] asserted the need to maintain this support by Arab states, especially in the latest security conditions through which Lebanon is passing," the statement added.

It was not clear if the statement meant Arab states had provided military support since the conflict began on Sunday.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told a news conference later that he could give no details of any military assistance to the Lebanese government.

"But we will continue to see how to help Lebanon and it depends on the developments. We hope that a ceasefire ... would be very much in order and very much needed," he added.

Lebanon has also asked the United States for $280 million in military assistance to help put down the uprising, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

About $220 million would go to the Lebanese Armed Forces and another $60 million to security forces, spokesman Sean McCormack said. He added that the United States is weighing the request. He declined to specify the type of assistance requested.

Thousands of Palestinians flee camp
Thousands of Palestinians were fleeing the camp on Tuesday during a lull in the fighting, Associated Press reporters at the scene said.

AP reporters at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp said the massive fleeing began at about 9 P.M. local time during a lull in the fighting.

United Nations relief officials in another camp located a few kilometers to the south of Tripoli said they expected 10,000 refugees from Nahr el-Bared to arrive during the night.

AP television footage from the Nahr el-Bared camp earlier in the afternoon showed dozens of women clutching children and boarding pickup trucks, leaving their partially destroyed homes. Others were fleeing on foot, and ambulances could be seen evacuating the wounded.

"There are a lot of dead and wounded in the houses, our homes are being destroyed on our heads," said a young refugee woman clad in a blue veil.

A man angrily interrupted her. "There's been a massacre, I witnessed it," said the man. He said he had seen 10 civilians killed in one room. "Six shells fell on us, the bodies were cut to pieces."

Lebanese media reported Tuesday that some 200 Palestinians in Nahr el-Bared demonstrated against Fatah Islam, asking them to leave the refugee camp.