2023-07-30 22:02:00
Smoke can be seen from afar Fatah and Islamists are fighting in a Lebanese refugee camp
7/31/2023 12:02 AM
In Lebanon’s largest refugee camp, Fatah is engaged in heavy fighting with Islamists. A commander of the Palestinian organization is killed in an ambush, six people die in total. Lebanon’s president wants to stabilize the situation with the army.
After an alleged assassination attempt on a Palestinian commander, heavy fighting broke out in a large refugee camp in Lebanon. At least six people were killed, according to the local director of the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA on Twitter. The clashes began on Saturday evening in Camp Ain al-Hilwah and continued the next day. According to Fatah, five of its members were killed, including commander Abu Ashraf al-Armushi, who was ambushed. According to information from Palestinian circles, a member of the Islamist group al-Schabab al-Muslim is said to have died. There are several injured.
Because of ongoing fighting, black smoke might be seen over the camp, residents reported. According to reports, those involved fought with machine guns and sniper rifles, among other things. Security forces blocked roads in the area. The Lebanese Army said a mortar shell used in the fighting landed at one of its facilities, injuring a soldier.
Lebanon’s army stays outside
Ain al-Hilweh is the largest of the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The camp is home to more than 54,000 Palestinian refugees and thousands more Palestinians fleeing the civil war in Syria. Violent clashes are common there. For many years, there has been an agreement according to which the Lebanese army does not enter Palestinian camps. Palestinian groups take care of security there. In fact, however, the camps are lawless zones. In Ain al-Hilweh, for example, extremists and fugitives were taken in.
Two months ago, a Fatah member was killed in similar clashes in the camp. After the new clashes, Fatah spoke of a “heinous and cowardly crime” aimed at undermining the “security and stability” of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has criticized “repeated attempts” to use Lebanon as a theater for external disputes. This is happening “at the expense of Lebanon and the Lebanese.” He called on the Palestinian leadership to work with the army to bring the security situation in Ain al-Hilweh back under control.
At a meeting of various Palestinian groups in Egypt, which was attended by Fatah, Hamas and the Lebanese Amal and Hezbollah movements, a ceasefire was agreed that evening. The shots then stopped.
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