LEBANON: On Monday, hundreds of residents in a main Palestinian camp in Lebanon fled due to ongoing clashes for the third consecutive day between Fatah, the mainstream faction, and radical Islamists, residents and security sources stated.
The conflict shattered a ceasefire brokered on Sunday between adversary Palestinian factions that included representatives from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group and its ally, the Shi’ite Amal movement, which exerts influence in southern Lebanon.
In the clashes that broke out in the Ain el-Hilweh camp, at least 40 individuals were hurt, and 11 were killed, close to the southern coastal city of Sidon, over the weekend, as per Palestinian sources.
On Monday, the combatants exchanged rocket-propelled grenades in the camp’s packed lanes, with each side blaming the other for breaking the ceasefire.
Palestinian sources say that the new wave of fighting broke out on Saturday as a result of a security crackdown by Fatah, the dominant faction in the camp, against hardline Islamists who have a presence there. Attacks on Fatah outposts started after a militant was killed.
Fighting increased on Sunday after a Fatah commander was slain in an ambush set up by militants, and three of his friends later perished from their injuries in what was perceived as retaliation for the death of the Islamist militant the previous day.
Over 2,000 individuals were compelled to flee the area to seek safety, according to Dorothee Klaus, the head of UNRWA, the U.N. agency responsible for Palestinian refugee welfare, which provides essential services in the camp housing more than 50,000 inhabitants.
Klaus said that schools were opened to accommodate displaced families. Outside the walled camp, where the army controls access through checkpoints, shrapnel injured several Lebanese soldiers.
Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps, which date back to the 1948 battle between Israel and its Arab neighbours, house around 400,000 refugees. The camps mainly lie beyond the jurisdiction of Lebanese security services.
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