Inter-faction fighting is common in the Ain al-Helwah refugee camp in southern Lebanon, and a clash Monday left an uninvolved woman dead and a Fatah member seriously injured, Al-Jazeera English reports.
Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem
Monday's attack was the result of a row between a Fatah member and a man affiliated with an unnamed Islamist group. Al-Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh says though the group is yet unnamed, Islamist group Usbat al-Ansar has been a source of instability in the Ain al-Helwah camp in the past. A Fatah source in the camp says the clash was personal, not political and that this incident will be an isolated one. Ain al-Helwah houses more than 50,000 people and is the largest of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps.
Excerpt:
The head of the Fatah armed
wing in the camp told Al Jazeera's correspondent that the incident was
isolated, that it was a fight between two men and was not political.
The Lebanese army cordoned off the main entrance to the camp outside
the southern port of Sidon and dozens of families could be seen fleeing
Ain al-Hilweh in fear, the AFP news agency said.
Some vehicles leaving the camp were transporting wounded people to nearby hospitals.
By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside in the hands of Palestinians.
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Photo: Reham Alhelsi - Flickr
Posted
at
18 Feb 2010 8:33 AM
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