Cautious Calm after Fierce Fatah-Islamist Clashes in Ain el-Hilweh

Fierce clashes erupted Sunday afternoon between the secular Fatah Movement and a number of hardline Islamist groups in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, state-run National News Agency reported.

The fighting was focused on the Sifsaf-Briksat frontier on al-Fawqani street and the sounds of machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city of Sidon, NNA said.

Cautious calm engulfed the camp in the evening after the national and Islamist Palestinian factions reached a tentative ceasefire agreement under which the gunmen were supposed to be withdrawn from the streets, media reports said.

The clashes had renewed earlier in the day, leaving several people injured. The agency identified one of the wounded as Alaa Hammoudeh.

“We will not allow the extremist groups to cross the line in the Ain el-Hilweh camp and things are taking another direction today. A final solution for these groups should be found,” Fatah official Mahmoud Abdul Hamid Issa, aka al-Lino, told al-Jadeed TV.

The Lebanese army meanwhile closed the Ain el-Hilweh entrance that faces Sidon's state-run hospital to preserve the safety of passersby.