LEBANON: Clashes erupt between Palestinian factions

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

SIDON, Lebanon, May 19 2003 (IPS) - Heavy clashes erupted Monday between Palestinian factions inside the camp of Ain el Hilweh, two days after a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist leader was seriously wounded in a shooting, Palestinian sources said.

Sounds of rocket-propelled grenades and automatic gunfire echoed throughout the camp and armed guerrillas from the mainstream Fatah movement were taking positions near areas where the Osbat al Nour have their headquarters, the sources said.

The camp’s streets were empty and people were seen running in panic to hide. – Several people were wounded, among them a freelance photographer," the sources added.

Fatah guerrillas were trying to storm the area of Safsaf where members of the fundamentalist Osbat al Nour are present.

The Lebanese army closed all entrances to the camp and was on full alert, the sources said. The army mans checkpoints at the entrances of the camps but leaves security inside to the Palestinians.

The head of the Fatah movement in Lebanon, Sultan Abu al Anian, said a ôdecision has been taken to liquidate Shreidi and end his followers’ presence at the camp".

He held Shreidi and his followers responsible for a series of attacks on and assassinations of Fatah members in the camp over the past few months.

Tension mounted in the camp Saturday after unidentified gunmen shot and seriously wounded Abdullah Shreidi, head of the hard-line Osbat al Nour group.