Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon remains tense amid confusion over ceasefire efforts

A Palestinian Fatah movement fighter takes cover during clashes near one of its centres in Ain Al-Helweh camp for Palestinian refugees in Sidon, September 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 10 September 2023
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Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon remains tense amid confusion over ceasefire efforts

  • Shells and bullets hit the perimeter of the camp, the city of Sidon, and the highway to the south, killing at least nine people

BEIRUT: All efforts to secure a new ceasefire in the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon have been halted following recent bloodshed.

Clashes escalated on Sunday between Fatah militants and extremist groups represented by Jund Al-Sham and Al-Shabab Al-Muslim, also known as Muslim Youth.

Shells and bullets hit the perimeter of the camp, the city of Sidon, and the highway to the south, killing at least nine people.

The Muslim Youth group on Sunday afternoon unilaterally declared “a ceasefire and a halt to all military actions from one side.”

A Palestinian leader in the camp told Arab News: “Any ceasefire agreement that might be reached is liable to collapse if it does not address the root of the problem, which is the extradition of those involved in the assassination of Fatah leader Al-Armoushi at the end of July.”

The leader added: “On Saturday, the Fatah movement repeated its attack on the Hattin neighborhood and achieved great progress toward clearing the area and forcing the militants to retreat.”

A Palestinian security source said: “The extremist groups opened a parallel battle on Fatah positions in Jabal Al-Halib and the supporters of these groups, who live in the areas controlled by Fatah, known as sleeper cells, opened fire from the rooftops on Fatah’s rear.”

The source added that the Hamas movement had communicated with the extremist groups and proposed transferring its militants to Syria, but they had refused.

The Fatah attack was repeated on Sunday against the extremist groups.

Some of Hamas’ leaders have proposed that it should take over security in the Ain Al-Hilweh camp as Fatah had failed to do so effectively and had become a party to the ongoing conflict, said the source.

Heavy clashes began at dawn between Fatah and extremist groups. Machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper bullets were used in the clashes.

Two shells fell outside the borders of the camp on the Sidon-Ghazieh road in southern Lebanon.

Several rocket shells exploded in the airspace of the city of Sidon and Darb Al-Sim, and stray bullets injured a citizen.

The eastern highway, which connects Sidon with the south, was closed to traffic, which was diverted to the coastal sea road.

The Palestinian source said: “Fatah will not be able to achieve a decisive victory and we are in a state of attrition.”


UN ok’d to send ‘around 100’ aid trucks into Gaza: spokesman

Updated 3 sec ago
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UN ok’d to send ‘around 100’ aid trucks into Gaza: spokesman

GENEVA: The United Nations said on Tuesday it has received permission to send “around 100” trucks of aid into the war-shattered Gaza Strip, as humanitarian assistance trickled back in to the territory.
“We have requested and received approval of more trucks to enter today, many more than were approved yesterday,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for UN Office for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva, adding that “we expect, of course, with that approval, many of them, hopefully all of them, to cross today to a point where they can be picked up and get further into the Gaza Strip for distribution.”


Army, paramilitaries clash near Sudan capital

Updated 2 min 9 sec ago
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Army, paramilitaries clash near Sudan capital

  • The army said its operation which began on Monday was aimed at driving the paramilitaries from their last positions in Khartoum state

KHARTOUM: Clashes erupted on Tuesday between the Sudanese regular army and rival paramilitaries in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, with the army calling the fighting part of a "large-scale" offensive.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said explosions rang out in the area, where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had retreated after losing control of the Sudanese capital in March.
The army said its operation which began on Monday was aimed at driving the paramilitaries from their last positions in Khartoum state.
"We are pressing a large-scale operation and we are close to clearing the whole of Khartoum state from dirty thugs," military spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement.
The war since April 2023 has pitted the army headed by Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF under his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The fighting comes as both the army and the RSF are attempting to establish their own governments.
On Monday, army chief Burhan has tapped a former United Nations official, Kamil Idris, as a new prime minister -- a move seen by analysts as an attempt to gain international recognition and present a functioning civilian-led government amid the ongoing war.
The African Union on Tuesday welcomed the appointment, calling it "a step toward inclusive governance" and expressing hope that the move will "restore constitutional order and democratic governance in Sudan".
The RSF announced in April it would form a rival administration, a few weeks after signing a charter in Kenya with a coalition of military and political allies.


In recent weeks, the RSF has staged multiple drone attacks on areas around the country, including Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, the seat of the army-aligned government since the war began.
Omdurman, which is situated just across the River Nile from Khartoum, has been a focal point of fighting in recent days.
This week, a days-long electricity blackout hit the whole Khartoum state, following drone strikes blamed on the RSF on three power stations in Omdurman.
Medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said on Sunday that the power outages had disrupted health services at the city's major hospitals.
"The magnitude of these drone attacks represents a major escalation in the conflict, with alarming implications for civilian protection," the UN's human rights expert on Sudan, Radhouane Nouicer, said in a statement on Monday.
"The recurrent attacks on critical infrastructure place civilian lives at risk, worsen the humanitarian crisis, and undermine basic human rights."
The army has meanwhile launched attacks in areas controlled by the RSF in the country's south, trying to claim territory and cut off rival supply lines.
The Emergency Lawyers, a monitoring group which has documented atrocities on both sides, on Sunday accused the army of killing 18 civilians, including four children, in an attack on Al-Hamadi village in South Kordofan state last week.
The war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and sparked what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has carved up Sudan, with the army controlling the north, east, and centre, while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.


EU agrees to lift all economic sanctions on Syria: diplomats

Updated 8 min 2 sec ago
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EU agrees to lift all economic sanctions on Syria: diplomats


Malnutrition in Gaza could rise exponentially, UNRWA official says

Updated 17 min 15 sec ago
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Malnutrition in Gaza could rise exponentially, UNRWA official says

  • Malnutrition rates in Gaza have risen during a more than 11-week Israeli blockade
  • Israel cleared nine trucks of aid on Monday to enter Gaza

GENEVA: Malnutrition rates in Gaza have risen during a more than 11-week Israeli blockade and could rise exponentially if food shortages continue, a health official at the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Tuesday.

“I have data until end of April and it shows malnutrition on the rise,” Akihiro Seita, UNRWA Director of Health, told a Geneva press briefing.

“And then the worry is that if the current food shortage continues, it will exponentially increase, and then get beyond our control.”

Israel cleared nine trucks of aid on Monday to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing although aid workers said just five entered.


Israel’s Elbit Systems posts profit jump on Gaza war, rising defense budgets

Updated 43 min 27 sec ago
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Israel’s Elbit Systems posts profit jump on Gaza war, rising defense budgets

  • More than 32 percent of Elbit’s revenue came from Israel, where the country has been fighting Hamas

TEL AVIV: Israel’s largest defense firm Elbit Systems reported higher first-quarter profit on Tuesday, boosted by sales to Israel’s military during its war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and as global defense spending rises.
Elbit said it earned $2.57 per diluted share excluding one-time items in the first quarter of 2025, up from $1.81 a year earlier.
The results were boosted by a 20 percent increase in aerospace sales, largely of precision guided munitions from which revenue rose 22 percent to $1.9 billion.
More than 32 percent of Elbit’s revenue came from Israel, where the country has been fighting Hamas since October 7, 2023. The company has supplied munitions, drones, guided rocket systems, reconnaissance capabilities and other systems.
As numerous global conflicts boosted national defense budgets, Elbit’s backlog of orders reached $23.1 billion. Some 66 percent of the backlog is from outside Israel, while 51 percent of the orders are scheduled to be fulfilled during 2025 and 2026.
“Elbit is well positioned to capture and benefit from the opportunities of increasing defense budgets globally and particularly in Europe,” said CEO Bezhalel Machlis. “We are continuing to invest in increasing our production capacity and optimizing our supply chains in order to address our backlog and the high demand for our products.”
Elbit said it would pay a quarterly dividend of 60 cents a share, the same as in the fourth quarter.