At least five killed, others injured in renewed Ain al-Hilweh clashes

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
9 Sep 2023 19:15

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasizes the priority of ending military operations and cooperating with Lebanese security forces to address tensions.

Lebanese medics prepare tents next to the stadium in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Saida to house families fleeing the renewed clashes in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp, on September 9, 2023 (AFP)

The death toll from clashes in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon rose to five. Earlier, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that two people were killed and 11 others were injured during the clashes, amid attempts to establish a ceasefire in the camp.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported on Saturday that the intensity of the clashes escalated west of the camp, noting that both sides of the conflict used machine guns and shells that struck places far from the fighting fronts.

The NNA mentioned that the ongoing clashes killed two militants, while "a civilian was killed by a stray bullet" outside the camp, reporting that dozens of others were wounded.

"What is taking place does not serve the Palestinian cause at all and is a serious offense to the Lebanese state" and the city of Saida, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a phone call on Saturday, his office said in a statement.

Mikati emphasized "the priority of ending military operations and cooperating with Lebanese security forces to address tensions," according to the statement on X, formerly Twitter.

On Thursday evening, a ceasefire agreement was reached between all parties but several violations were recorded, while the clashes renewed on Friday morning.

Earlier on Saturday, a member of the Joint Palestinian Action Committee in Lebanon, Ahmad al-Sheikh, confirmed that efforts are continuing to achieve a ceasefire.

On Friday, Hamas Spokesperson Jihad Taha described the recent events in the Ain al-Hilweh camp as attempts to return the area to point zero, indicating that what is taking place is sedition practiced by suspicious sides seeking to fragment and weaken the security of the Palestinian camps.

Taha confirmed that the Hamas movement is carrying out a series of meetings and contacts with all parties in order to stabilize the ceasefire and implement what was agreed upon.

The United Nations resident coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza, on Friday urged "armed groups to stop the fighting in the camp" and to "immediately" vacate schools belonging to the UNRWA.

"The use of armed groups of schools amounts to gross violations" of international law, Riza said in a statement.

The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, had previously warned that militants were occupying its schools in the camp.

Ain al-Helweh is home to more than 54,000 registered refugees and thousands of Palestinians who joined them in recent years from Syria, fleeing war in the neighboring country.

The Lebanese army called on "all relevant parties in the camp to stop the fighting."

It said it was taking the "necessary measures and making the required contacts to stop the clashes, which endanger the lives of innocent" people.

Dozens of families fled as the fighting intensified, carrying bags packed with basic necessities, such as bread, water, and medicine, an AFP correspondent said.

Another correspondent saw aid workers setting up tents outside the municipal stadium in Saida to shelter people displaced by the fighting.

"The municipality is coordinating with the Red Cross to set up 16 tents as a first step," Mustafa Hijazi, an official in charge of disaster management at Saida municipality, told AFP.

"We expect to erect more (tents), to accommodate about 250 people," he added.

A public hospital directly adjacent to the camp transferred all its patients to other facilities because of the imminent danger, its director Ahmad al-Samadi told AFP.

Five days of clashes that began in late July left 13 people dead and dozens wounded, in the worst outbreak of violence in the camp in years.