A funeral procession in Bebnine, in Akkar, for two men from al-Jamaa al-Islamiya's al-Fajr Forces, who were killed in an Israeli attack in Western Bekaa in April 2024. (Credit: Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, a Lebanese Sunni party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, denied on Saturday reports by some media outlets about a training camp in Aley.
Citing a judicial source, newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported Saturday that a training camp belonging to Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya was dismantled in the Aley region of Mount Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the Saudi outlet television channel reported Saturday, citing Lebanese military sources, that a cell that was arrested three weeks ago in Aytat (Aley district) by the Lebanese Army includes 10 members of Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya's military wing.
"We would like to clarify to the Lebanese public that the group does not have any armed training camps anywhere in Lebanon, nor does it seek to establish any. It is committed to civil peace and stability and has affirmed its cooperation and coordination with the relevant authorities in Lebanon to consolidate this", the Jamaa Islamiya statement reads.
The group added that it refuses to "provide any pretext for the Israeli enemy to continue its aggression against Lebanon, and has repeatedly affirmed its call for the adoption of a defense strategy in line with the speech of His Excellency the President of the Republic regarding national security and its requirements."
Members of the Jamaa Islamiya's al-Fajr Brigades had claimed several military operations in southern Lebanon during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, who opened fire on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza.
Several of the group's fighters have also been killed during the war and after the cease-fire.
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