2023-09-13 21:24:28
7 killed as a result of renewed clashes in Ain al-Hilweh camp, south of Lebanon
Violent clashes broke out in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon between the Fatah movement and extremist Islamic groups, in a new violation of the ceasefire agreement that was reached and accepted by the Palestinian forces.
Today’s clashes, in which shells and machine guns were used, resulted in seven deaths and 24 wounded, according to the National News Agency. Serious material damage was also recorded in the camp and its surroundings, reaching some buildings and centers in the city of Sidon, in the south of the country, at a time when families continue to flee to escape the fighting.
The media official in the Fatah movement, Youssef Al-Zarii, said in a call to the National News Agency: “Today, our positions were attacked by terrorist forces, which forced our members to respond to them, especially at the Jabal al-Halib-Hatin axis and the Taamir-Barakas axis.”
He pointed out that “there has been no progress by either party on their sites,” stressing that “what is happening is not a military operation by (Fatah), but rather repelling the attack of terrorist groups.”
He announced that “zero hour for Fatah has not yet been determined, and that the movement is committed to what was agreed upon today in the government palace in terms of giving a time limit to these terrorist groups and putting pressure on them by the Islamic forces and the Hamas movement in order to hand over those wanted in the assassination of Brigadier General The martyr Abu Ashraf Al-Armushi and his companions.”
He added, “It has become clear that there is an external regional decision that incited to ignite the fuse of strife inside the camp to implement the destructive and displacement project once morest our people. As the general supervisor of the Lebanese arena in the Fatah movement, Azzam Al-Ahmad, said, the Lebanese agencies had monitored communications from an external party inciting… Igniting the fuse of strife in Ain al-Hilweh.”
Yesterday, Tuesday, two delegations from the leadership of the Fatah and Hamas movements agreed to commit to establishing a ceasefire in the camp.
The agreement came following a meeting of two delegations from the two movements at the Palestinian embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with the participation of Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, and a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk.
Clashes broke out between members of the Fatah movement and an armed group calling themselves “Muslim Youth” at the end of last July, resulting in the killing of 14 people, including the commander of the Palestinian National Security in the Sidon region, Brigadier General Abu Ashraf Al-Armushi, a leader of the “Fatah” movement. With 4 of his companions, which marked a turning point in the clashes.
The day following that, the camp’s neighborhoods and streets turned into a battlefield between the “Fatah” movement and the Islamists who previously belonged to the “Jund al-Sham” group (according to Palestinian sources), and they form a group active in the camp under the name “Muslim Youth.”
At the beginning of last August, calm returned to the camp following a series of contacts between Palestinian factions and Lebanese officials and parties, and it was agreed that the eight suspects in the Al-Armouchi assassination should be handed over, before clashes returned last Thursday.
Since its establishment in 1948, the largest Palestinian refugee camps have witnessed assassinations and sometimes clashes, especially between Palestinian factions and extremist Islamic groups. Ain al-Hilweh camp is known for harboring extremist groups and outlaws. More than 60,000 Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations live there, and its area does not exceed one square kilometer.
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