A day after the Lebanese Army crushed militants in Nahr el-Bared, mixed feelings prevailed among the estimated 30,000 Palestinian refugees who fled the North Lebanon camp, but most said they are determined to return home as soon as possible.

Lebanese soldiers greet a girl near the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Tripoli on Sept. 3. AP PHOTO

Many expressed joy because the bloody three-month fighting has ended, allowing their eventual return to their war-devastated houses. But sadness was also widespread over the loss of property and, in some cases, loved ones.

The refugees were undaunted by the destruction they expected to find in Nahr el-Bared, which has been pummeled by artillery and tank fire since the army began battling Fatah Islam militants May 20.

"We want to return to Nahr el-Bared to live even in a tent amid the destruction, rubble, bombs and booby traps," Intisar Younis, a 50-year-old mother of eight, said Sept. 3 at one of four U.N.-run schools in Beddawi, another refugee camp nearby, where most Nahr el-Bared residents have fled.

"The return to Nahr el-Bared is tantamount to an infant's return to his mother's arms," she said. "We want to embrace the camp despite the destruction." She said she was forced to flee Nahr el-Bared a month into the fighting after the family's house was hit by shellfire.

"This is the fourth time we have been displaced from our home," she said.

The army has said it will not let anyone into the camp before it is cleared of gunmen, unexploded shells, mines and booby traps. The government, meanwhile, has promised to rebuild the devastated area.