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SECURITY

Blast at Palestinian base in Lebanon kills five: security source

A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command accused Israel of carrying out "overnight raids" at the base in Qousaya, near the Syrian border. Israel denied any involvement.

A view of a village in the Bekaa. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP/File photo)

Five fighters from a pro-Syrian Palestinian militant group were killed in an accidental explosion at a base in eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) instead accused Israel of carrying out "overnight raids" at the base in Qousaya, near the Syrian border. Israel denied any involvement.

"An old rocket exploded in an arms depot on the base and five fighters were killed," the security source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

A security source also told our correspondent in the Bekaa that a rocket carried by Palestinian factions in the village of Qousaya had exploded.

The Lebanese Army has not yet released any official statements or information on the incident. When contacted by L’Orient Today about news of the blast on Tuesday morning, a spokesperson for the army said he was not aware of the incident

The Damascus-based group has close ties with the Syrian government and its main Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, and has bases in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley.

PFLP-GC spokesman Anwar Raja said Israel had carried out "overnight raids" on the base.

"Five fighters were killed," he told AFP, adding that "for now we do not have more detailed information on the operation."

The Israeli military, however, denied any involvement in the deadly blast. "This is not IDF [Israeli army] activity," a spokeswoman told AFP.

Another PFLP-GC official, the Lebanon-based Abu Wael Issam, told the Associated Press that his group will retaliate "at the suitable time." He added that the strike will not deter his group from "escalating the fight against the Israeli enemy."

In August 2019, suspected Israeli strikes targeted the PFLP-GC in Qousaya.

In July 2015, a security official said a blast at a PFLP-GC base in Qousaya wounded seven people, while the Palestinian group blamed it on an Israeli strike.


Reporting contributed by Sarah Abdallah

Five fighters from a pro-Syrian Palestinian militant group were killed in an accidental explosion at a base in eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) instead accused Israel of carrying out "overnight raids" at the base in Qousaya, near the...