At least six individuals were murdered in two days of fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon–including a Fatah leader–when the mainstream Fatah movement clashed with splinter factions supporting Islamists, according to Reuters.
Several Fatah commanders’ aides were hurt in the skirmish, and four of them died of their injuries near Ain el-Hilweh camp in the southern seaside city of Sidon.
The previous day, one person was slain in a failed assassination attempt on the leader of an organization sympathetic to extreme Islamists. This was followed by gunfire and armed militant attacks on Fatah’s headquarters.
After a meeting between various Palestinian groups– including officials of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah organization and its Shi’ite partner Amal movement, which wield control in southern Lebanon–a truce was struck.
Shops had already shuttered their doors, and some people had departed the camp–Lebanon’s largest refugee camp–as tensions between competing factions rose on Sunday, according to a witness. Per the Lebanese army, a mortar landed inside military headquarters, injuring one soldier.
The United Nations organization in charge of Palestinian refugee welfare–which provides basic services to over 50,000 people in Ain el-Hilweh–has announced the suspension of all activities in the camp.
Approximately 400,000 Palestinian refugees reside in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps, which date back to Israel’s 1948 conflict with its Arab neighbors. The camps are mostly outside the authority of Lebanon’s security forces.