Fighting eases at second Palestinian camp in Lebanon

AIN AL-HILWEH – Islamist militants killed two Lebanese soldiers at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon yesterday in an apparent attempt to relieve pressure on al Qaeda-inspired fighters besieged by the army in the north.

Two fighters of the Sunni militant group Jund al-Sham were also killed in rifle, grenade and mortar exchanges that erupted at an entrance to the big Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon, security and military sources said. Witnesses said the fighting at Ain al-Hilweh, started by Jund al-Sham on Sunday night, subsided later yesterday Three soldiers and two civilians were also wounded.The clashes were the latest jolt to stability in Lebanon, already shaken by a protracted political crisis pitting the Western-backed government against Syria’s Lebanese allies.Hundreds of civilians fled Ain al-Hilweh, a sprawling shantytown perched on a hillside above Sidon, 42 km south of Beirut.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction dominates the camp, but small Islamist groups have a foothold there and in several other refugee camps in Lebanon.The army has battled one such Sunni group, Fatah al-Islam, for more than two weeks at the Nahr al-Bared outside Tripoli, 100 km north of the Lebanese capital.Nampa-ReutersWitnesses said the fighting at Ain al-Hilweh, started by Jund al-Sham on Sunday night, subsided later yesterday Three soldiers and two civilians were also wounded.The clashes were the latest jolt to stability in Lebanon, already shaken by a protracted political crisis pitting the Western-backed government against Syria’s Lebanese allies.Hundreds of civilians fled Ain al-Hilweh, a sprawling shantytown perched on a hillside above Sidon, 42 km south of Beirut.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction dominates the camp, but small Islamist groups have a foothold there and in several other refugee camps in Lebanon.The army has battled one such Sunni group, Fatah al-Islam, for more than two weeks at the Nahr al-Bared outside Tripoli, 100 km north of the Lebanese capital.Nampa-Reuters