2023-09-14 21:56:36
Lebanon: Ain al-Hilweh camp is facing the test of a new ceasefire
Since Thursday afternoon, the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, located in southern Lebanon, has been testing the extent of the commitment of the conflicting forces there. Led by Fatah and the extremist groups, with the ceasefire agreement announced by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who made tireless efforts to stabilize it.
Fatah sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that it is “committed to what was agreed upon and will give a new opportunity to peaceful endeavors to implement the demands that were agreed upon, most notably the extradition of the killers of the Fatah leader, Major General Abu Ashraf Al-Armushi and his companions.”
The cautious calm witnessed in the streets and alleys of Ain al-Hilweh, with some violations, throughout the day on Thursday, seemed like a “warrior’s rest stop” that the fighters knew could end at any moment, especially after very violent battles that the camp witnessed on the night of Wednesday and Thursday, the echoes of which resonated in areas south of Lebanon used, for the first time, flare bombs.
While 15 dead and more than 150 wounded were reported during the past week, it seemed clear that the fighting went beyond the framework of the battle between the Fatah movement and the extremist groups holed up in the camp, as it expanded after other major forces and factions entered Ain al-Hilweh to support the extremists.
In this context, the commander of the Palestinian National Security in the Sidon region, Brigadier General Abu Iyad Al-Shaalan, said, “All Islamic forces, especially the Ansar League, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, have become a party to the battles, whether by supporting extremists, or participating in fighting on their behalf and supplying them with fighters from outside the country.” The camp,” he stressed, in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, “Fatah’s full readiness to confront and root out the saboteurs, as they do not pose a threat to the camp alone, but also to neighboring areas.”
Al-Shaalan explained that “Fatah gave many deadlines and opportunities to hand over the killers of the Fatah leader, Major General Abu Ashraf Al-Armushi, and his companions, but all the promises were ignored by the extremists,” pointing out that “fighting a real battle and a major attack against them is not unlikely, even if we will not take such a decision.” Without coordination with the Lebanese security forces, as we are, in the end, guests on Lebanese soil.”
On Thursday, the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, visited the 1st Infantry Brigade in the Sidon region, met with officers and soldiers, and listened to a briefing on the missions carried out in light of the clashes taking place inside the Ain al-Hilweh camp. It was reported that General Aoun praised “the steadfastness of the personnel, their professionalism, and their sacrifices in performing their duty, especially during the current exceptional circumstances in the sector of the brigade’s responsibility.”
A video also circulated on social media, showing the Lebanese Army Commando Regiment entering the city of Sidon, which some interpreted as a preparation for some kind of intervention in what is happening in the camp. However, security sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that “General Aoun’s visit to Sidon, as well as the presence of commandos there, is normal and natural; To keep up with what is happening in the camp, the commandos have been making rounds in the city constantly since the outbreak of battles.” The sources confirmed that “the army does not plan at all to enter the camp or participate in the battles, and repeat the Nahr al-Bared camp experience; Because the situation in Ain al-Hilweh is a thousand times more complicated.”
The National News Agency said, “New types of artillery and rocket shells were used, on the night of Wednesday and Thursday, in the battles, and their sound was heard in distant places in the depths of the south, which led to the outbreak of fires inside the houses located in the fighting axes and the targeted places, and to a wave of Massive displacement of people, including new neighborhoods, as a result of the intensification of the indiscriminate bombing that affected them.”
It was also reported that the house of MP Osama Saad’s son was hit; Marouf Saad, killed by stray bullets as a result of clashes in Ain al-Hilweh camp.
At this time, the political movement continued to absorb these events after the failure of Fatah and Hamas to impose a ceasefire, which was agreed upon after a meeting of two delegations from the two movements at the Palestinian embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with the participation of Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement. And a member of the Hamas political bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk, who came to Lebanon in an attempt to understand developments in the camp.
President Berri Al-Ahmad and Abu Marzouk met in two separate meetings, and discussed with them the need to “stop the fighting immediately.” Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat that he presented to the Palestinian officials a solution formula that they agreed to, indicating that everyone was informed of “the intention to implement this formula, and to stop the senseless and destructive fighting immediately.”
Abu Marzouk believed that “any action within the Palestinian issue must be through dialogue, consensus and understanding.” He said, after his meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the head of a leading delegation from the movement, that what is happening in Ain al-Hilweh should stop “immediately.” He added: “We put all of this before the President, and we are betting on him to stop this farce that is taking place in the camps. There must be a ceasefire, the withdrawal of the militants, an end to the militarization inside the camps in this humiliating manner, the return of the Palestinian people to their place in the camp, the opening of schools and the withdrawal of fighters from them, and the return of the educational process again.”
As for Al-Ahmad, he pointed out, after the meeting, that “from the beginning of the first spark, the Amal Movement and its leadership moved, and a meeting took place in its office in Sidon for the Palestinian Joint Action Committee, and Berri’s fingerprints were for this formation, which includes all the Palestinian forces, no matter how varied their differences, and it plays a role.” In order to enhance the security and stability of Ain al-Hilweh camp and the Lebanese surroundings in the Sidon region.
He pointed out “the necessity of accelerating the completion of the investigation undertaken by a joint Palestinian-Lebanese committee, which began immediately after its formation, and has reached many facts and indicators, and is working day and night, even hearing some witnesses and some defendants in their own homes.” I took their help. We only want the truth, and we only want the Lebanese judiciary to hold accountable everyone who broke the law, participated in the crime of assassinating Al-Armouchi, and participated in the artificial clash that took place in some areas of Ain al-Hilweh, and even some neighboring Lebanese areas, in the displacement of thousands of families. Lebanese and Palestinian, and it led to destruction that should not have been destruction and weapons. It should have been directed by the Zionist enemy, and not between this or that faction.”
Regarding the possibility of some parties investing in the Palestinian-Palestinian fighting, he said: “I indicated indirectly that what happened was not local in Lebanon, and what happened was not far from what happened at the same moment of the meeting of the general secretaries of the Palestinian factions in the city of El Alamein in Egypt, in order to strengthen unity.” The Palestinian Authority in confronting the occupier, and also in confronting the attack on the Palestinian people, and the attempts to liquidate its cause at the Israeli and international levels, and an incident here and an incident there are not far from the same conspiracy; The invasions of Jenin, Jenin camp, Nablus, Balata, and Nour Shams in Tulkarm. It is also not far from the attempts that are taking place here to kill the Palestinian cause, but we are on the lookout, and we are working first to correct the thinking of the misguided so that they return to their senses and enhance security and stability in the Ain al-Hilweh camp.”
In a joint statement they issued on Thursday, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas movements called for “an immediate ceasefire, for the Palestinian resistance forces to lift the cover on all those involved in these clashes, and to close ranks and unify the Palestinian position in confronting the Zionist enemy alone.” “It is necessary to arrest those involved in crimes and hand them over to the competent Lebanese authorities.”
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