Heavy clashes in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon
SIDON, Lebanon (AFP) — Heavy clashes raged Friday between Islamic militants and fighters of the mainstream Fatah faction in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and prompted an exodus of civilians.
Rival fighters exchanged rocket fire for almost two hours into the evening in the main street in the densely populated Ain al-Helweh camp outside the southern port city of Sidon, a Palestinian official said.
Gunshots were subsequently heard in Sidon itself, with a Fatah leader saying at least three people including two Fatah militants had been taken to hospital after suffering injuries.
A Palestinian official said the fighting was at very close quarters.
A Lebanese army spokesman had said that the fighting was confined to the camp and that troops, which by longstanding convention do not enter Lebanon's dozen refugee camps, had not got involved.
But an AFP correspondent said over 100 Palestinian families fled the camp to take refuge in nearby Sidon.
The Lebanese army blocked the entrance to the camp, while allowing civilians to leave.
The correspondent added that entire families took refuge in a neighbouring mosque, while others hid in cars which they had managed to take out of the camp, home to some 45,000 people.
Women and children sat forlorn on the pavements as others headed for Sidon.
A Palestinian official said that the militants of the Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus) had been angered by Fatah's seizure of a commander of the group and his handover to the Lebanese army.
"Yesterday (Thursday) the Fatah organization in the camp kidnapped a member of Jund al-Sham named Samir Maarouf who is accused of carrying out bomb attacks inside the camp and outside," a Palestinian official told AFP asking not to be identified.
"The Fatah forces handed over Maarouf to the Lebanese army," the official said, adding that the captive was suspected of links to militant groups outside Lebanon.
Jund al-Islam fought a deadly battle with Lebanese soldiers last year, joining in a revolt by the fellow Islamic militants of Fatah al-Islam centred on the north Lebanon refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.
The group's name refers to the ancient Islamic term of Bilad al-Sham, a region which covers Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Its members are mostly Lebanese, many of whom fought against the army during an Islamist rebellion that broke out on New Year's Eve in 1999 in the predominantly Sunni area of Dinnieh in north Lebanon and left 45 people dead.
The Sunni group also includes Palestinians, mostly dissidents of the fundamentalist Usbat al-Ansar (Band of Supporters), which was outlawed by Lebanese authorities in 1995 for murdering a rival cleric.
Jund al-Sham, which has no clear hierarchy or particular leader, is believed to have about 50 militants armed with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
