Aoun confirms disarmament to start mid-June in 3 Palestinian camps in Beirut

The disarmament of the first Palestinian camps in Lebanon will begin in mid-June in three Beirut camps, President Joseph Aoun confirmed Monday.

A joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee met for the first time last week following an accord between Lebanese and Palestinian leaders on disarming Palestinian camps as Lebanon seeks to impose its authority on all its territory.

The Lebanese and Palestinian sides agreed on starting a plan "to remove weapons from the camps, beginning mid-June in the Beirut camps, and other camps will follow," a Lebanese government official told AFP on Friday.

Lebanon hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations agency UNRWA, many living in 12 overcrowded official camps.

Most are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their land during the creation of Israel in 1948.