Following intensive contacts throughout the day on Friday between Hamas, Saïda MP Oussama Saad and Palestinian leaders, a ceasefire agreement was reached in the Palestinian camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Saïda.
The ceasefire came into effect at 7pm. Fighting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah and fundamentalist Palestinian groups close to Iran had resumed on Thursday evening and continued intermittently throughout the day, leaving some forty people wounded, according to the latest report.
Residents continued to flee the camp during the day, fearing an even more serious deterioration in the situation, while Lebanese-Palestinian contacts and efforts to establish a ceasefire and allow the joint Palestinian security force to deploy in the camp continued apace.
Because of the risks associated with this explosive situation, the Lebanese University closed its doors in Saida and postponed the exams scheduled for Friday. The official administrations also closed their doors, especially as the shooting hit the neighborhoods surrounding the camp.
During the night, a mortar shell landed near the General Security building in the Saida Serail, causing material damage.
Heavy fighting was concentrated in the Tawarek, Taamir and Braxat neighborhoods. According to initial reports, Jound el-Cham and Al-Chabab el-Mouslem, Islamist groups close to Hezbollah and Iran, launched a surprise attack on a Fatah position, Thursday evening, with the aim of preventing the Palestinian joint force from deploying in the camp. The attack came twenty-four hours after the decision of the Palestinian Joint Working Committee to task the joint force with preserving stability in the camp and surrounding areas.
This force had mainly to take up position in the Unrwa school compound, occupied by pro-Iranian Palestinian factions who see it as their first line of defense.
Fatah was then to launch a counter-offensive, announcing an operation to “cleanse” the camp of Palestinian fundamentalists.
