Burned-out cars in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Nahleh, near the Beddawi camp. Photo provided by our correspondent, Michel Hallak.
AKKAR — Fighting broke out on Monday evening between Palestinians living in the Beddawi refugee camp and Lebanese residents who are members of Wadi al-Nahleh's Arab tribes. The Lebanese Army eventually intervened and by Tuesday, hostilities appeared to have largely ceased.
The situation quickly spiraled out of control shortly after midnight on Tuesday, when gunfire from the Beddawi camp targeted the house of a man known as "al-Askari," who had appeared in a recent video circulated online in which he explains how he confiscated a truck of food aid provided by Iran. He describes how he diverted the truck, destined for the refugee camp, to Wadi al-Nahleh instead.
The video sparked anger among Beddawi's residents and the exchange of gunfire lasted until dawn. Reports indicate that no one was killed, but the fighting caused significant material damage and injured a relative of "al-Askari," who was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Lebanese Army deployed where clashes were taking place and set up security barriers. Following eventual de-escalation, the army set out to ensure the area is demined, including detonating a grenade that hadn't exploded. An investigation has been launched to determine the roots of the clashes and identify its perpetrators.
Following the incidents, the Union of Arab Tribes published a statement inviting the different parties of Wadi al-Nahleh "to exercise restraint to preserve the security of the residents and prevent bloodshed."
The statement emphasized the role of the army and the state's security services in controlling the situation and restoring calm, rejecting uncontrolled weapons that threaten civil peace, and saying that the monopoly on arms belongs to the Lebanese state.
The situation in northern Lebanon has been volatile for several weeks due to events that have occurred in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on Dec. 8, overthrown by a coalition of opposition forces who now sit in the seat of power in Damascus. About ten days ago, bloody clashes in western Syria between fighters loyal to Assad and new Syrian security forces killed more than 1,225 civilians according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), with a majority being Alawites, the religious minority to which the ousted president belonged. Thousands of refugees fled to Akkar.
Fighting between the Lebanese Army and the new Syrian forces also broke out on Monday, exacerbating tensions even further in the region.
Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North, Michel Halak.