Weapons seized by the Lebanese Army in the Beddawi and Ain al-Hilweh camps, on Sept. 13, 2025. (Photo: Lebanese Army)
The Fatah movement handed over its last heavy weapons to the Lebanese Army on Tuesday, in a new stage of the process of disarming Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon that began in mid-September, reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
The handover of a new cache of weapons began in the morning, in the area known as Jabal al-Halib, a separation point between the Palestinian national security and Lebanese Army checkpoints.
Around midday, the Palestinian National Security Forces announced they had completed the handover to the troops of "a fifth shipment of heavy weapons belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the Ain al-Hilweh camp."
In a statement, the director of the public relations and media department of the Palestinian National Security Forces in Lebanon, Abdelhadi al-Assadi, confirmed that this step was taken "in accordance with the joint presidential statement issued by President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 21 May 2025, as well as the conclusions of the joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee responsible for monitoring the situation in the camps and improving living conditions there."
The operation took place on the instructions of the authorities in Ramallah, a Palestinian security source cited by L'Orient-Le Jour said earlier.
When asked about the handover of other types of weapons, the source stressed that it was carrying out the "decisions taken by the political leadership" of the Palestinian Authority.
The monopoly on weapons: An 'old Lebanese demand'
According to the same source, today's shipment was equivalent to five lorries-full of cannons, missiles, rocket launchers and shells.
This is the second operation of its kind to be carried out in Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, in addition to the fifth shipment handed over since mid-September by PLO factions.
With this new handover of weapons, Fatah has surrendered its entire heavy arsenal to the Lebanese state, according to our correspondent. Other factions, led by Hamas, are refusing to disarm.
In early August, the government pledged to regain control over weapons, notably by disarming Hezbollah and Palestinian refugee camps. As part of this effort, the Lebanese Army is continuing its operations to dismantle Hezbollah's arsenal, in a mission that began south of the Litani River.
The southern border region is now virtually free of weapons, according to statements made in recent days by sources from both Hezbollah and the army.
The troops must now continue with the second phase of their disarmament plan north of the Litani River, while Hezbollah refuses to surrender its weapons in the rest of the territory as long as Israel continues to attack Lebanon and occupy several positions in the south of the country.
It is in this context that MP Michel Moawad reiterated from Baabda, after a meeting with Aoun, that the issue of the state's monopoly on weapons is a "long-standing Lebanese demand," while the disarmament of militias was notably included in the Taif Agreement (1989).
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