Students prepare to leave their schools in the Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hilweh, in southern Lebanon, on Nov. 15, 2022. (Credit: Screen capture from a video sent by our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah)
BEIRUT — Schools operated by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, closed their doors on Tuesday morning in Ain al-Hilweh's Palestinian refugee camp in South Lebanon due to tensions in the area following the death of a person affiliated with the Fatah movement. The deceased was gravely wounded on Saturday in an armed clash between Palestinian factions in the camp.
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in South Lebanon, armed groups deployed in the camp after the death of Mr. A., nicknamed al-Iraki (the Iraqi), as students were leaving their schools. The administrative staff of these schools had asked the students' parents to come and collect them.
A Palestinian source in the camp told our correspondent on Saturday that militiamen from the Fatah movement stationed in the Barakat neighborhood and Islamists stationed in the Safsaf neighborhood, at the northern entrance to the camp, had exchanged fire following an argument. Rocket fire was heard in the city of Saida the same day. Automatic weapons and hand grenades were also reportedly used in the clashes. Two people were wounded in these clashes. The commander of the joint Palestinian force in the Ain al-Hilweh, Abed al-Hadi al-Assadi, had told L'Orient Today on Saturday that "there are no political reasons behind the armed clash."
The densely populated Ain al-Hilweh camp is regularly the scene of shootings and clashes, either because of personal disputes or because of tensions between various Palestinian factions.
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah
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