General view of Ain al-Hilweh camp, near Saida, South Lebanon. (Credit: NNA/File photo)
BEIRUT — The Joint Palestinian factions in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, near Saida, Friday handed over to the Lebanese Army a man suspected of killing a Fatah member, Fateh official Mounir al-Makdah told L'Orient Today's South Lebanon correspondent.
Celebratory gunfire and rockets were heard in the area after the detention was announced.
The suspect, Khaled Ala' al-Din, is a member of the Islamist group Osbat al-Ansar. Earlier this month, clashes between Fatah and Islamist groups in the refugee camp left one dead and seven injured. Ala' al-Din allegedly killed the deceased, a Fatah member.
Ala' al-Din was arrested by the factions after a meeting last week at the Palestinian National Security headquarters in Ain al-Hilweh, in the presence of Brig. Gen. Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi, the Palestinian National Security Commander in the Saida region, Brig. Gen. Maher Shabaita, the Secretary of Fatah in the Saida region, Col. Abdul Hadi al-Asadi, the commander of the Palestinian security force, and Fouad Othman, an official from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Tensions rose in Ain al-Hilweh last week after the relatives of Ala' al-Din refused to turn him in to the Lebanese Army.
Approximately 54,000 Palestinian refugees live in the Ain al-Hilweh camp — the largest in Lebanon — along with thousands of other Palestinians who fled the war in Syria. The camp is regularly the scene of armed clashes between rival groups.
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah.
Celebratory gunfire and rockets were heard in the area after the detention was announced.
The suspect, Khaled Ala' al-Din, is a member of the...