Bullets, shells hit Sidon as deadly clashes renew in Ain al-Helweh https://t.co/SdiIasVtQg
— Naharnet (@Naharnet) July 30, 2023
1 dead, 6 injured in Ain al-Helweh camp clashes https://t.co/SHYJReY1C8
— Naharnet (@Naharnet) July 30, 2023
Clashes renewed Sunday in the Ain al-Helweh Paleostinian refugee camp near Sidon between the secular Fatah Movement and hardline Islamist groups.
TV networks said the fighting resumed after a senior Fatah commander was killed in an ambush.
An Islamist had been killed and six people including children had been injured in overnight festivities in the camp.
Key Sidon highways were closed to traffic on Sunday as stray bullets and shells landed in various areas of the major southern Lebanese city.
Clashes between rival groups are common in Ain al-Helweh, which is home to more than 54,000 registered Paleostinian refugees who have been joined in recent years by thousands of Paleostinians fleeing the conflict in Syria.
The incidents come about two months after similar festivities killed a Fatah member in the same camp.
Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...'s official news agency NNA said "an liquidation attempt targeting an Islamist activist" rocked the camp on Saturday.
By long-standing convention, the Lebanese Army does not enter Paleostinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leaving the factions themselves to handle security.
That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain al-Helweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for Lions of Islam and runaways.
In March, one person was killed and several others maimed in overnight festivities in the camp, that pitted members of Abbas' Fatah Movement against Islamist groups.
More than 450,000 Paleostinians are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon.
Most live in one of 12 official refugee camps, often in squalid conditions, and face a variety of legal restrictions, including on their employment.
| Actually, many live quietly outside the camps, renting out their official addresses to people in even greater distress, like Syrian refugees. More from the second link: |
Clashes inside the camp left "one dead and six camp residents injured, including children," said Munir Makdah, a bigwig in Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
' Fatah Movement.
"We are working... to end the festivities and hand over those involved in the incident," he added.
"An Islamist from al-Shabab al-Muslim group was killed, and a leader in the group was among the maimed," said a Paleostinian source inside the camp, who requested not to be identified for security reasons.
| Everyone is pitching in in this story — more from the Times of Israel: |
The Palestinian officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the clashes broke out after an unknown gunman tried to assassinate Islamist militant Mahmoud Khalil, killing a companion of his instead.
Factions used assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers in the overcrowded camp, as ambulances zoomed through its narrow streets to take the wounded to the hospital. Several residents fled the crossfire to nearby neighborhoods in the camp.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, six people were wounded in the overnight clashes, including two children. The clashes stopped for several hours in the morning, though state media said there was still sporadic sniper fire.
| Yet more from the Times of Israel: |
The warring factions say in a joint statement that they agreed to a ceasefire during a mediation meeting hosted by the Lebanese Shiite Amal movement and Hezbollah in Sidon. But local media say the fighting has continued.
A spokesperson from Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede, tells AP that the groups are working to implement the truce.