Tensions in Ain el-Helweh have persisted after an umpteenth attempt to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Another ceasefire agreement was indeed reached on Monday during an extraordinary meeting tackling the recent deadly incidents in the Palestinian camp of Ain el-Helweh. The meeting was held at the General Security (GS) headquarters. This initiative was led by Elias Baissari, the acting general director of the GS.
General Baissari had convened on Sunday all of the Palestinian organizations involved in the ongoing conflict that began on Thursday evening between the pro-Iranian fundamentalist group and Fatah, the main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Fatah is ruled by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, chaired by Mahmoud Abbas.
After the meeting, Ali Faysal, spokesman of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stated that “it was agreed to respect the ceasefire and implement the agreements reached between the General Security and the Palestinian Joint Working Committee to bring the perpetrators of the July assassination of Abu Ashraf Armouchi, a Fatah leader, and his four bodyguards, to justice.”
The fighting continued for the fifth consecutive day on Monday in the Ain el-Helweh camp. Clashes involving automatic weapons and mortar shells were reported in various areas of the camp. Stray bullets and shrapnel struck areas adjacent to the camp in Saida, including the State Security office. Until now, eight people have been killed in the fighting, and 128 have been wounded, including six army soldiers.
According to some reports, Ezzeddine Abou Daoud, one of the wanted individuals who is in connection with the assassination of Abou Ashraf Armouchi, was killed in these clashes. Security sources have reported that the number of wounded and dead within the fundamentalist groups is 25.
Denial of Hamas
On Monday, Hamas, Iran’s ally, denied all allegations of its support for the fundamentalist groups in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh.
In a statement, it declared that all Palestinian factions in the camp were “cooperating within the Palestinian Joint Working Committee.”
For its part, the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) denounced the strikes which targeted army posts in the vicinity of the Ain el-Helweh camp, killing one soldier and wounding five others.
It issued a statement describing it as a “suspicious act that harms the Palestinian cause and serves the enemies of the Palestinian people,” notably Israel.
Hezbollah also expressed its opposition to these clashes, “which harm the Palestinian people and their cause.”
