Rockets, shells, ammunition: PLO factions in Sour camps hand over their arsenals to Lebanese Army

The Palestinian factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), including Fatah led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, present in the refugee camps of Rashidieh, Burj al-Shemali and al-Bass in the Sour region of southern Lebanon, handed over their arsenals to the Lebanese Army, the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee announced Thursday.

The Lebanese Army confirmed in a statement released in the afternoon that it had received “Palestinian weapons south of the Litani River, originating from the camps of Rashidieh, al-Bass and Burj al-Shemali, in accordance with the decision of the political authorities and in coordination with the Palestinian parties concerned.”

“We have received various types of weapons, shells and ammunition. The weapons handover operation will continue thereafter,” the army said.

Officials and sources in these camps told our correspondent in the South earlier in the day that these operations had begun at dawn. Hamas and its allies, for their part, have not handed over their weapons in these camps at this stage.

According to information from our correspondent, eight trucks loaded with weapons were handed over to the troops by fighters from the three Palestinian camps located south of the Litani River, an area that the cease-fire with Israel, which took effect on Nov. 27, 2024, requires to be disarmed entirely except for the Lebanese Army.

According to the commander of the Palestinian National Security Forces, Sobhi Abu Arab, contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, a similar operation had already taken place two days earlier at Rashidieh, at night for greater discretion. This official added that six pickups were assembled Thursday morning at the entrance to the camp to carry out the operation. Two other shipments were handed over by fighters in the two other camps. These consignments included rockets, mines, artillery shells of various calibers, ammunition, grenades and anti-aircraft weapons, representing the totality of Fatah's weapons present in the camps.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a Lebanese government body, announced in a statement that the disarmament process for the camps south of the Litani "was completed today, with the delivery of batches of heavy weapons belonging to PLO factions in the Rashidieh, al-Bass and Burj al-Shemali camps, which have been placed under the responsibility of the Lebanese Army." Confirming the total of eight trucks filled with weapons, the Committee emphasized that the next steps of the disarmament plan will be carried out "in the other camps according to the agreed plan."

The spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeina, meanwhile stated that "both parties confirmed their commitment to ensuring the human, social and economic rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, to ensure them a dignified life, without infringing upon their right of return or their national identity," as had been agreed in the accord concluded in May 2025, during Mahmoud Abbas' visit to Beirut.

Disarmament of the camps will continue Friday

According to reports from local media, it was the army's 2nd Intervention Regiment in the Sour region that carried out the weapons collection, under the supervision of the head of military intelligence in the South, Souheil Harb, the president of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Ramez Dimashkieh, and General Abou Arab. Dimashkieh called it a "very positive step" in local media. Hamas, which until now has categorically opposed any disarmament, "will come to understand that this is in the best interest of the camps. We are in contact with everyone," he added. The process "will continue tomorrow, Friday, in the Beirut camps," he added.

These three camps — al-Bass, Rashidieh and Burj al-Shemali — had been bombed at least once by the Israeli air force during last autumn’s extended offensive against Hezbollah.

On the evening of Thursday, Aug. 21, Palestinian fighters had already handed over weapons to the Lebanese Army in the Burj al-Barajneh camp in the southern suburbs of Beirut, as part of the disarmament plan for militias approved several months ago by the government, in agreement with the Palestinian Authority. The start of the operation, initially scheduled for June, had been postponed due to the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. The government has also committed itself to disarming Hezbollah, which the party categorically refuses.