A dangerous escalation. Where are the events of Ain al-Hilweh heading in Lebanon?

BEIRUT – Clashes have developed to an unprecedented stage in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian camp adjacent to the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, between members of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and a group calling itself "Muslim Youth", where the camp witnessed violent confrontations on Wednesday night, culminating in the overthrow of the results of the ceasefire agreement under the auspices of the Joint Palestinian Action Committee.

After subsiding for hours, renewed battles inside the camp and shrapnel hit Sidon, coinciding with the visit of a member of Fatah's Central Committee, Azzam al-Ahmad, and a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Musa Abu Marzouq, to Beirut, who held talks with the heads of government and parliament and security and political leaders, with a view to putting an end to the deterioration.

After meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, al-Ahmad said, "Terrorist elements are exploiting the nature of the camp. It is clear that they have contacts with foreign intelligence agencies that are documented by us."

On the other hand, Abu Marzouq said, "What is happening is the destruction of the camp under the pretext of fighting terrorism, and we tried to help those in trouble, but the pledges made to us are meaningless."

15 dead and more than 150 injured is the toll of clashes in the camp so far (French)

Renewed clashes

The deterioration of the situation on the ground inside the camp can be linked to the following facts:

• Fatah continues to try to advance despite its inability to resolve militarily.
• The "Muslim Youth" group is fighting the battle in exchange for refusing to implement the demand for the extradition of those accused of killing the commander of the National Security in the city of Sidon, Brigadier General Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi.
• The Joint Palestinian Joint Action Committee is unable to ensure that the ceasefire is stabilizing, leaving the battle timeless and open to all possibilities.

The fighting escalates after a lull of about a month, following bloody clashes at the end of July, which led to the death of 12 people, including Al-Armoushi, and 4 of his companions.

According to field information for Al Jazeera Net, that new numbers of fighters enter the camp amid the supply of weapons and heavy ammunition, and his sons wonder about the existence of an external decision to continue the battle. The same data indicate that a confrontation flared up on Wednesday between Fatah and the "Muslim youth", in the place where the latter is stationed in the Hittin neighborhood, and then spread - for the first time - large parts of the camp.

Palestinian medical sources reported to Al Jazeera Net, about 8 people were killed, 3 of them from the Fatah movement and about 24 wounded, in the battle, which used various heavy weapons and rockets, bringing the total number since it broke out last Thursday night to 15 dead, and more than 150 wounded (so far).

While the camp is witnessing a large displacement movement to Sidon and the vicinity, the Palestinian expert and journalist Ahmed Hajj Ali says to Al Jazeera Net, that the counter-attacks between the Fatah movement and the "Muslim youth" were used in which medium weapons were used heavily, especially "B10" (B10) and mortars of 60 caliber and Dushka, and the mobilization reached its peak after the failure of negotiations to hand over the suspect to kill Al-Armoushi, where the militants did not withdraw, nor removed the earth curtains.

Hajj Ali says that the material losses are large and difficult to count, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimated - before the recent renewed clashes - about $ 10 million, including damaged homes, shops, schools and infrastructure, in addition to suspending the studies of about 6000,<> Palestinian students in the camp, who cannot go to their schools amid the fears of camp residents that compensation will not be provided to them after the battles.

Observers believe that the escalation is exacerbated with the transformation of the camp to the lines of contact, and complicated the chances of solutions as a result of the multiplicity of security references and sources of decision, and talk information Al Jazeera Net for the division of Palestinian groups on itself, which deepens the crisis of resolution of the ceasefire.

Attempts to contain Palestinians

After the assassination of Al-Armoushi, an investigation committee was formed from the Palestinian Joint Action Committee, in which Lebanese parties and forces participated, and determined that there were 8 names (4 Palestinians and 4 Lebanese), who participated in the assassination, and none of them was spared so far, while one of them was killed last Monday evening as a result of the battles.

The renewed clashes prompted a meeting at the Palestinian embassy between Hamas and Fatah, which resulted in the ceasefire decision, and it was remarkable after the issuance of a joint statement between the Islamic Jihad and Hamas, condemning in decisive language the violation of the ceasefire agreement, and observers promised that the statement, in which the phrase "The need to arrest those involved in crimes, does not justify the ongoing threat to civil peace in the camp and the neighborhood," expresses an implicit criticism of Fatah, as it seeks to try to resolve militarily.

The secretary of the Fatah movement and the factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Beirut, Brigadier General Samir Abu Afash told Al Jazeera Net, that the ceasefire is coupled with the demand to hand over the killers to the Lebanese security forces, and describes those fighting "Fatah" terrorist and takfiri forces.

"What is happening is not Palestinian-Palestinian fighting; there is a terrorist group that seeks to sabotage the camp, as it did in the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon in 2007," he added.

Hamas and Fatah delegations meet in Beirut to put an end to the deterioration in Ain al-Hilweh (Al Jazeera)

On the other hand, says the media spokesman for Hamas in Lebanon Jihad Taha, that there was a responsible and serious position of the Fatah and Hamas ceasefire movements, and the authorization of the Lebanese security forces with the Commission to pursue the wanted, but "things returned to the escalation box," wondering via Al Jazeera Net, about the extent of the presence of hands seeking to sabotage the Palestinian cause and deepen its strike from the gate of refugees and camps in Lebanon.

"There are those who are trying to strain the atmosphere through undisciplined groups, and we call on the various parties to assume their responsibility by lifting the lid on them," he said.

Taha calls on the Lebanese security and official side to stand by the Palestinian forces and neutrally, in the face of the elevators in the service of what he describes as the "Zionist project", which seeks to delete the camps from the map within a large path aimed at normalization.

The spokesman adds that the camps, especially Ain al-Hilweh, are an incubator for the Palestinian resistance, and confirms Hamas' continuous efforts to block the path to destructive "agendas."

The Lebanese Role

The battle weighs heavily on the complex Lebanese reality, amid questions about the unity of the Lebanese position, both security and political, from the parties to the conflict.

In the context, the head of the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee, Basil al-Hassan for Al Jazeera Net, that there is a large vacuum in the issue of security inside the camp, and says, that the state and the Lebanese army do not prefer the use of force, and there is coordination with the Palestinian forces for how to address the reality, and says, "The issue of extradition of wanted demand Lebanese-Palestinian common, including those who assaulted the army by throwing missiles at one of its checkpoints."

Al-Hassan warns against escalating the clashes, saying, "Their continuation means that there is a conspiracy to end Ain al-Hilweh later and expose its residents to enormous risks, in light of the inability to compensate for the losses and destruction that displace thousands of families."

Al-Hassan stressed that the Lebanese side deals impartially with the Palestinian parties, "taking into account that the embassy represents the Palestinian state, and has a peculiarity for the Lebanese state to address the issue of the camp."