BEIRUT — Lebanese General Security on Friday arrested Sheikh Saeed Khattab in Beirut, accusing him of involvement in the 2023 clashes at Ain al-Hilweh, according to Palestinian sources cited by our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Khattab is the son of Sheikh Jamal Khattab, the leader of the Mujahideen Movement, a Salafist group that is part of the Islamic Forces alliance within the Palestinian Joint Security Forces.

Sources told our correspondent that Khattab was detained at a General Security office in Beirut, where he had gone to apply for a passport for his son. 

Family members disputed the General Security's accusation against Khattab, telling L’Orient Today that he was not in Ain al-Hilweh during the 2023 clashes.

General Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In the summer of 2023, deadly clashes broke out between Islamist factions and the nationalist Fatah movement in the camp, leaving a dozen people dead, hundreds displaced and causing extensive damage. In September, the Palestinian belligerents agreed to a cease-fire.

The summer 2023 clashes in Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, pitted Islamist factions (such as Jund al-Sham and al-Shabab al-Moslem) against the Fatah movement, close to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The violence left at least 30 dead, displaced hundreds and caused significant damage. Following the sporadic fighting from Sept. 7 to 14, a cease-fire was reached later that month.