2023-09-13 18:43:05
On September 7, clashes broke out between the Fatah movement and extremist Islamic groups in the camp located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon.
At dawn on Wednesday, Fatah and Hamas, the two most prominent factions on the Palestinian scene, agreed on the necessity of establishing a ceasefire in the camp, which is the largest for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and is known for its overcrowding and connection to many residential neighborhoods located in the city and its surroundings.
Despite this, the fighting renewed violently as of Wednesday evening, cutting off the international road that passes alongside the camp, which is the main link between southern Lebanon and the rest of the country, according to an Agence France-Presse correspondent.
Director of Communications at the Palestinian Red Crescent in Lebanon, Imad Hallaq, told Agence France-Presse, “The clashes on Wednesday evening left six dead and 13 wounded.”
The previous toll of the confrontations since last Thursday was that nine people were killed and more than 85 others were injured.
These battles came following weeks of the most violent confrontations in the camp. They broke out at the end of July and lasted for five days between the two sides. They resulted in the killing of 13 people, including a Fatah leader, in an ambush. They calmed down following a series of contacts between Palestinian factions and Lebanese officials and parties.
During the past few days, several meetings were held between Palestinian factions and others with Lebanese officials. The recent escalation prompted the Fatah and Hamas movements to send two envoys to Lebanon: Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the executive committees of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the central committees of the Fatah movement, and Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, which did not participate in the battles on the ground and does not have a significant presence in Ain al-Hilweh, unlike Other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
A ceasefire and extradition are required
Following a meeting held on Tuesday night at the Palestinian Embassy in Beirut, the two movements announced in a joint statement at dawn on Wednesday the agreement to “full commitment to consolidating the ceasefire” that was reached on Monday following a meeting that brought together representatives of the factions with leaders of the Lebanese security services, and the necessity of “handing over the wanted persons accused.” With the assassination of a Fatah leader in July.
An Agence France-Presse correspondent in Sidon reported that calm had prevailed, and the sound of clashes had stopped being heard since following midnight on Tuesday-Wednesday.
The Fatah and Hamas movements stressed “continuing coordination with the Lebanese state and all its institutions.”
The Lebanese security forces do not enter the Palestinian camps according to an implicit agreement between the PLO and the Lebanese authorities. The Palestinian factions undertake a kind of self-security inside the camps through a joint security force.
Fatah and Hamas, the two most prominent Palestinian factions that have been at odds for more than 15 years despite several agreements to put an end to the division between them, also agreed on the necessity of working to facilitate the return of hundreds of people who were forced by the recent escalation to flee the camp.
Ain al-Hilweh camp is known for harboring extremist Islamic groups and outlaws. It is home to more than 54,000 Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations, joined during the past years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Syria.
It often witnesses assassinations and sometimes clashes, especially between Palestinian factions and extremist Islamic groups.
The Fatah movement is the most prominent faction in the camp, where Hamas is also present. Extremist Islamic groups take several neighborhoods as their stronghold, one of which is the area that mainly witnessed the recent clashes with the Fatah movement.
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