Clashes at Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon kill at least three
At least one person was killed and several others were injured on Saturday – the third day of clashes between Palestinian security forces and militant group Badr in Ain el Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, Lebanon, local sources said
Saturday’s clashes broke out after fighters belonging to the mainstream Palestinian group Fatah, led by the West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, fired at a district where the leader of the armed group was believed to be taking cover.
Scores of families were forced to flee the area.
The fighting began on Thursday after armed men – allegedly sympathetic to Bilal Badr, a militant wanted in connection with “terrorism” – fired at the headquarters of a joint security force, comprising the main Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, inside the camp. Two people were killed in that fighting.
The clashes eased on Friday before intensifying again on Saturday, forcing dozens of families to flee the camp and seek shelter in Sidon mosques.
The sound of fierce gunfire and rocket fire could be heard outside the camp as black smoke billowed over Ain al Hilweh.
The fighting shook the Al Tiri district a few metres (yards) away from a Lebanese army position.
By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leaving the factions themselves to handle security.
Ein al Hilweh is the crowded “refugee” camp that the Lebanese built a wall around, complete with watchtowers. It is a real prison for Palestinians so they can kill each other without Lebanese police bothering to worry about it.
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