Heavy Clashes in Ain al-Hilweh after Another al-Lino Bodyguard Killed
Fierce clashes erupted on Sunday in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp between Fatah Movement and the Islamist group Jund al-Sham after a bodyguard of Palestinian Armed Struggle chief Mahmoud Issa, aka al-Lino, was shot dead, three days after another bodyguard was assassinated in the same manner.
Three other people were wounded when an unidentified gunman opened fire in the camp, including a Fatah Movement military officer and a child, a Palestinian official in the camp told Agence France Presse.
The gunman opened fire at al-Lino’s bodyguard Amer Fustoq in the camp’s vegetable market, wounding him severely in the head and other places of his body.
Fustoq died of his wounds shortly after being rushed to the Labib Medical Center in the neighboring southern city of Sidon.
Fatah officer Talal al-Ordoni was among those wounded in the shooting.
Many families were leaving the scene in vehicles as gunfire echoed across the camp, according to an Agence France Presse correspondent.
Later on Sunday, al-Lino told Al-Jadeed television “there are suspicious groups linked to outside forces.”
“I stress that new faces implicated in the incidents have surfaced. We’re trying to decipher this riddle and the results will come out soon,” he added.
“The (adjacent) al-Tawari camp hosts remnants of (the extremist Islamist group) Fatah al-Islam who are linked to individuals in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, and new elements have entered the camp and caused this unrest,” al-Lino claimed.
On Thursday al-Lino accused members of the Islamist militant group Jund al-Sham of assassinating his first bodyguard, Ashraf al-Qaderi.
“Maybe there are instructions to continually target the PAS and national security and shove us in internal struggles,” al-Lino told Al-Jadeed.
Another Fatah official, who refused to be identified, told al-Liwaa daily in remarks published Thursday that a Jund al-Sham militant opened fire on 28-year-old al-Qaderi in Ain el-Hilweh on Wednesday, killing him instantly.
The official said that Jund al-Sham members are seeking to create tension after several security incidents, bombings and shootings at the camp.
He added that several members of the militant group had been arrested by the Palestinian Armed Struggle and handed over to Lebanese authorities.
The official hinted that al-Qaderi’s killing was aimed at taking vengeance at the arrests.
Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian camp in the country, is home to about 50,000 refugees and is known to harbor extremists and fugitives.
By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's 12 refugee camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinians themselves.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates that some 425,000 Palestinian refugees are living in Lebanon. Others, however, estimate the number to be closer to 250,000.
over 12 years
another clear example why Palestine will never be "liberated". There are well over 20 Palestinian factions and are not united. Each Za3eem has his own clan and pretend to want to to return to Palestine. Enough of the BS already. This crap has been going on for over 60 years now. Stop using the Palestinian people as your reason. Tell them the truth.
over 12 years
Clear the palastinian camps, we need parking spaces
over 12 years
asaf these scums dont deserve to be citizens of Lebanon just like other dirty cammal countries dont give citizenship to non nationals,so why should lebanon give it to people that killed and kidnapped its own.May they Never see a country of there own and live a life of misery forever.Thank you
over 12 years
Let me begin by saying that the Camps are exactly like "Dahiyeh" another outlaw area where it needs to be cleaned up just like Nahr EL Bared.
No one is above the state and law, You want to live in this Country then you better follow the rules of the state. Every person living in the state will need to be civilian and anyone caught with guns and arms need to be thrown in JAIL period. You are Palestinian and want to live in Lebanon then you better respect its laws, disarm just like living in UAE/Egypt/Jordan/Syria and etc...what happens when thugs commit crimes outside the camps and go hide in there? The army will need to control every corner of the state period, and every group will need to be disarmed 10 yrs ago when the war ended.
over 12 years
Asaf: My friend, you are confused. There is nothing in life harder than explaining the obvious. Nevertheless,I will give it a try.
As a wiseman once said (on this blog), why don't the camel riding, desert dwelling Bedouins give them citizenships. They have ample space and enough resources to support them. In addition to that, they share the same ideology and methodology.
My friend, it is time for them to leave. Lebanon will never grant then citizenship. As another wiseman once said (on this blog), clear the camps, we need parking space.
over 12 years
Again asaf: I am not clear on your statement when you said: "you have tried to use them as a weapon against Israel for 60 years..."
I ma not sure where you stand on this. It is the Arabs that played and continue to do so; they armed them making them believe that one day they will return and they used them as a tool to forward their own agendas.
Observe the following: Egypt, peace with Israel. Jordan, peace with Israel... Syria, never fired one bullet, they opted to do that in our beloved Lebanon. Saudi Arabia, billion of dollars spent, not one square inch recovered from Israel.... I am not sure, do you want me to continue. in summary, get them out of Lebanon and leave us alone to figure our own issues out on our own.
over 12 years
The Palestinian refugees are a disgrace for the Arabs who have exploited them since 1948 and left them in their dismal conditions under the pretense of waiting for the "right of return" .
It is about time that these people are treated like human beings and allowed at least to emigrate to the rich arab countries to work and provide for their families.
The gulf countries employ over 6 million laborers from the orient, they could easily offer employement for a hundred thousand bread winners from the over 420,000 refugees in lebanon.
The palestinian camps remain inhumane and futureless places that are a source of instability for lebanon.
over 12 years
To the Zionists on this WEB...Israel's years are numbered. Why? The two-state solution, separate and totally unequal, which is Apartheid, is dead. There will be one state, one man one vote majority rule. In four years the Christian and Muslim Arabs will become a majority in Israel/Palestine. Israel cannot do what it did in 1948 because ethnic cleansing is no longer tolerated by the west and the world. Also, Apartheid is no longer tolerated (at least not for long). Even in "Israel proper”, the Arabs will be a majority in forty years even without the right of return of refugees. Remember, it took two hundred years for white minority rule to end in Southern Africa. Israel will be renamed Palestine the same way Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe. Does anyone remember a country called Rhodesia? And this is how “Israel” will be remembered in the future.
over 12 years
Asaf, keep dreaming. By the way, are jewish women still not allowed to travel the bus sitting in the front? You should know that soon there will be a civil war between the religious jews and the secular jews. And as for Palestine and lebanon, both of these countries are mentioned in the bible so go tell your lies to someone else. Israel is dying and you fake jews who hijacked the israelite name will return to your native countries. Everyone is sick off you. And keep dreaming about egypt taking gaza and jordan taking the westbank. This is not 1948 and you know it. Jews are a slight majority at the current time but that is only because you guys are imported and keep on importing. Had things gone their natural way, jews would have remained 1 or 2 percent. And dont act as if bringing in arab jews was an act of humanity, it was part of zionism to bring in as many jews as possible to palestine. Britain brought in the ashkenazis and gave them a state which imported more jews.
over 12 years
I dont see why this has turned in to a racist discussion. Security breaches like this take place every day in lebanon so no need to get racist because this time it happened in a refugee camp. Besides the group behind this violence i.e jund el shem is a lebanese salafite group, not a palestinian group and they have a problem with the army and all secular muslim factions. This group is financed by the extremist elements of mustaqbal for political reasons. The plan was to have a sunni army facing hezballah but when it failed they left the group alive in order to avoid creating a bloodbath while disarming them. They are the ones behind all the security problems in ayn el hilwi. A lebanese group so stop the racist discussion. Mansour and shab should feel ashamed of themselves.
over 12 years
mansour
am surprised to find how much hates from one person to the Arab countries.
i very much would like your explanation for that reason also the humiliation to other people are not in our manners as Lebanese.whenever Lebanon are in need of the supports of those countries they never turn their back on us.is that how we should appreciate their help and support without those Arab countries Lebanon would have been bankrupted since 1975 for your information.now Mr mansour should we call them DIRTY ARAB CAMEL RIDING AGAIN
over 12 years
Mansour, i think you are forgetting that nobody has harmed lebanon as much as we lebanese have. Murder, torture, kidnappings and other violence was made mostly by lebanese against other lebanese. This trend of blaimng the foreigner is pathetic. Likewise i dont blame syria for their actions in lebanon before i blame ourselfs for our actions in lebanon. And it was lebanese who invited syria, it was lebanese who made the plo strong and many of its members in lebanon were lebanese sunnis, shiites, orthodox and from secular or left wing ideoligies. Moreover, the palestinians have contributed positively in to lebanese economy, culture, journalism and other aspects. I wish them nothing but a safe return to their homeland palestine and i dont want them to be naturalized as it is a zionist plan and wrong. You on the other hand are simply led by your hate, ignorance and racism. Thank God you dont live in lebanon. Oh and jend el chem are lebanese so will you say
the same thing about us now?
over 12 years
ASAF...Where I get the Statistics? There is no source in America or Israel that disputes that. The Arab birth rate in ALL of Palestine is 3 times higher than that of Jews. In "Israel proper" The Jewish population according to Israeli estimates is down to 75% (from 90%)...that is after 1 million Jews came to Israel from former Soviet Union, since then it has dried up (a poll was taken and it showed that 95% of them wanted to go to the West where they make more money than Israel, but Israel's economy is better than former Soviet Union).
"Gaza should be annexed by Egypt and the WB should be split between Israel and Jordan (after the king is overthrown)". NO COUNTRY ON EARTH EVEN THE US SUPPORTS THAT, which is why Israel's years are numbered, and since you are evidently a Zionist this discussion is over because you are boycotted.
Once again, Lebanon is used by all these thugs to settle their own scores.
The irony is that if all these groups collected their arms, weapons and personnel and decided to liberate their homeland,as they claim to want, they would've been living there now and out of these slumps. But of course not, they are master of rhetoric just like the big _____ in Damascus.
To the Lebanese, re-group around the nation and rid this country of all these thugs.