Armed Clashes Renew between Fatah and Islamist Members

Gunbattles renewed on Thursday between the Fatah Movement and members of an Islamist group led by Bilal Badr in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh.

The sounds of intermittent shooting continued early on Thursday between the fighting parties, NNA said.

Later on Thursday, media reports said Badr was inciting his supporters to attack Lebanese army posts at the camp's entrances amid a warning by the military against any such move.

Badr's incitement coincided with the hurling of a stun grenade towards one of the army's posts.

Armed clashes had erupted Wednesday night between Fatah fighters and members of the extremist group led by Badr, where machine guns, bombs and rocket propelled grenades were used between a vegetable market and the camp's al-Fawqani street.

The gun battles erupted against the backdrop of a killing incident that left cab driver, Simon Taha, dead on Monday.

Relatives of slain Taha attempted to block al-Fawqani street in protest to their son's killing, which escalated to an armed clash with gunmen.

Major General Munir al-Maqdah, Head of the Palestinian Joint Security Force, which is responsible for security inside Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps later told NNA that calm has prevailed and added that a committee has been formed to investigate into the assassination of Taha in order to apprehend the killers.

For two consecutive days, residents of the camp began a general strike on Tuesday in protest to the recurrent killings the latest was against Taha who was killed in al-Fawqani street.