| Gollly. What a coincidence. Just when the Leb army's engaged with Fateh al-Islam in the north, Ein el-Hellhole erupts. Who'da ever 'spected that to happen? |
As Ya Libnan has reported earlier clashes broke out between the mainstream Fatah organization and Jund al-Sham extremists in the southern refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh according to reliable sources. The fighting later escalated to include the Lebanese army when Jund al-Sham militants threw a grenade at the army post which resulted in injuring a civilian and a Lebanese army soldier. New reports say Usbat-al-Ansar has joined Jund al-Sham in their fight against the army and are also firing at the civilians in the camp. The report added: " fighting continues at camp of Ein el-Hilweh and that the Lebanese army has received reinforcement."This camp is known for trouble and several fights have taken place in recent months between the various militant factions. Jund al-Sham is based in Syria and is another militant group that Syria funds and trains according to sources that are familiar with this group. According to NBN , a local TV station, many civilians have started fleeing Ein el-Hilweh, but did not say where to.
The latest reports were somehow conflicting but say Fatah mainstream has joined the army in its fight against Usbat-al-Ansar and Jund al-Sham.
Update 9:40 PM
Withdrawal of Usbat-al-Ansar and Jund al-Sham militants from the streets of Ein el-Helweh refugee camp continues. A committee from Fatah and Hamas was formed to end the fighting and withdraw the militants. According to sources from the camp the army has suffered 5 injuries. Usbat-al-Ansar and Jund al-Sham militants suffered many casualties but no exact number was given. The civilians of the Ein el-Helweh camp continue to flee to safety. PLO Sec General, Sultan Aboul Ainain has just left the Rashidya camp and headed to Ein el Helweh to supervise in person the ending of the fighting.
Update: 9:20 PM
Fighting at Ein el-Hilweh has subsided when the Jund al-Sham militants were removed from the streets by the Fatah mainstream group as Sultan Aboul Ainain has promised
Update: 9: 00 PM Beirut time
Sultan Aboul Ainain the PLO Secretary General at the refugee camps said the attack on the army by the militant groups at Ein el-Hilwe refugee camp will soon be ended by Fatah mainstream
Abbas Zaki, PLO ambassador in Lebanon said all the militant groups will be finished off in Lebanon within 6 months, as he intends to get rid of them. Zaki has on several occasions issued statements of support to the Lebanese army , since the clashes started and said Fatah al-Islam has no connection whatsoever with Fatah , the Palestinians nor Islam.Usbat-al-Ansar is a well known terrorist group. It is a Lebanon-based, Sunni extremist group, composed primarily of Palestinians and associated with Al Qaeda. The group follows an extremist interpretation of Islam that justifies violence against civilian targets to achieve political ends. Some of those goals include overthrowing the Lebanese Government.
Usbat-al-Ansar has carried out multiple terrorist attacks in Lebanon since it first emerged in the early 1990s. The group assassinated Lebanese religious leaders and bombed nightclubs, theaters, and liquor stores in the mid-1990s. The group raised its operational profile in 2000 with two attacks against Lebanese and international targets. It was involved in clashes in northern Lebanon in December 1999 and carried out a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the Russian Embassy in Beirut in January 2000. ‘Asbat al-Ansar’s leader, Abu Muhjin, remains at large despite being sentenced to death in absentia for the murder in 1994 of a Muslim cleric.
In 2003, suspected Usbat al-Ansar elements were responsible for the attempt in April to use a car bomb against a McDonald’s in a Beirut suburb. By October, Lebanese security forces arrested Ibn al-Shahid, who is believed to be associated with this terrorist organzation , and charged him with masterminding the bombing of three fast food restaurants in 2002 and the attempted attack in April 2003 on the McDonald’s. ‘Usbat-al-Ansar were also involved in other violence in Lebanon in 2003, including clashes with members of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah mainstream movement in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp and a rocket attack in June on the Future TV building in Beirut, which is owned by the slain PM Rafik Hariri.
Unfortunately for the Lebanese government it cannot enter the 12 Palestinian refugee camps to pursue these terrorists because of a stupid law that is called the 'Cairo accord' which prohibits the Lebanese army from entering the camp. The idea then was that the Palestinians themselves should be able to police themselves, but this has not happened . According to reliable sources familiar with Usbat-al-Ansar , this group receives support also from Iran and Syria.