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BEIRUT: The United States has pledged $30 million to the rebuilding of a Palestinian refugee camp destroyed in a battle between Islamists and the Lebanese army, a UN refugee agency said this week. “The amount of $25 million (18 million euros) will be allocated toward the reconstruction of Nahr al-Bared camp and $5 million toward the Relief and Early Recovery Appeal,” said the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The grant raises to $71.8 million the amount donated by the US to the north Lebanon camp, which was almost completely destroyed in a 15-week battle between the army and an Al-Qaeda inspired militant group in 2007.

“The agency has now collected over $92 million of the estimated $450 million needed to rebuild the camp and 15 nearby villages,” UNRWA spokeswoman Huda al-Turk told AFP.

More than 400 people, including 168 soldiers, were killed in the Nahr al-Bared battles, and the camp’s 31,000 residents were transferred to nearby camps, some of whom have since returned. – AFP