A Lebanese lawmaker announced a ceasefire agreement Monday night, but some shooting continued afterward, and previous efforts to broker a ceasefire had failed to stop shooting and shelling through the narrow streets of Ein el camp. -Hilweh, in southern Lebanon.
The violence began on Saturday, when a gunman tried to shoot dead Palestinian militant Mahmoud Khalil, but instead killed his partner. The clashes broke out on Sunday when Islamist militants shot dead a Palestinian military general from the Fatah party, Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi, and three escorts as they walked through a parking lot, said a Palestinian official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
On Monday afternoon, following a meeting between Lebanese officials and Palestinian security forces and factions, Lebanese lawmaker Osama Saad, who represents the area of Sidon where the refugee camp is located, announced a new ceasefire agreement.
Saad previously told The Associated Press that the authorities are “making extraordinary efforts to find serious, effective, lasting and stable solutions to the situation inside the camp.”
At the scene, the intensity of the fighting subsided after the announcement, but sporadic shooting continued.
A Lebanese army spokesman confirmed on Monday that at least nine people were killed in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. Two soldiers stationed outside the camp were lightly injured, Colonel Fadi Abou Eid said.
The Lebanese army maintains a checkpoint outside and does not normally enter the camp, which is controlled by Palestinian factions. Some Lebanese officials have called for the army to take control of the camps after the fighting.
Lawmaker Samy Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb party, which during the Lebanese civil war sided with Israel against the Palestine Liberation Organization, met with US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Monday and called for “disarmament in the camps and their placement in the custody of the Lebanese army,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
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Sewell reported in Beirut.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
