
Fatah Movement flags in the main square of the Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. (Credit: Lucile Wassermann)
BEIRUT — One person was killed and four others were injured on Monday in a shootout between members of a family living in the Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camp, south of Sour, our correspondent reported.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the fight happened after a 26-year-old man kidnapped a 16-year-old girl to marry her, after her father, who is in Germany, previously refused to agree to the marriage.
While attempting to rescue his niece from the kidnapper on Monday, the girl's uncle got into an altercation that escalated into a gunfight. The uncle was fatally shot in the head, and his companion was shot in the shoulder. Both were transported to the Lebanese-Italian Hospital in Sour and the companion remains in critical condition.
The kidnapper and his brother were also wounded but are in stable condition, according to the NNA.
The security committee in the camp said it is working to bring the situation under control and restore calm.
The media office of the Fatah movement, which holds sway over the camp, denied in a statement that the fight caused five deaths, the news which several social media sites and WhatsApp groups have been circulating.
The statement also said that the reasons behind the family fight remain unclear. Opposing sides belong to rival political parties, though the reason behind the fight was not political, according to our correspondent.
For its part, the Palestinian Joint Action Authority in Sour condemned in a statement the incident, which it stressed was "an individual and family incident."
"The commission followed up this event with those concerned, and the perpetrators of the crime were arrested and handed over to the relevant security authorities," the statement added.
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah