South Lebanon’s Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp has been recently witnessing assassinations and reprisals against factional leaders.
The latest of such attacks targeted a member of Isbat al-Ansar, Mohammed Tawfik Lutfi, aka Abu Jandal, who was killed by an unknown gunman suspected of belonging to Jund al-Sham group.
The impact of such attacks on the camp prompted the Palestinian factions to draw up a security plan in coordination with the Lebanese army and security services.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the head of the security forces in the Palestinian camps, Major General Munir al-Maqdah, said that the security of the shantytowns is now under control and “better than before.”
“The political and security leaderships inside Ain el-Hilweh camp have formed a commission of inquiry to identify who carried out the recent assassination, and will announce the results, in cooperation with the Lebanese army and security leaders,” Maqdah said.
“We have a clear plan and the ability to contain the situation and control the security of Ain al-Hilweh and all other camps,” he added.
The shantytown has been recently witnessing tensions, mobilizations and show of arms, amid concern that the fighting will return to its neighborhoods.
Palestinian sources inside the camp said that the assassination of Abu Jandal - who works as the bodyguard to the spokesman of Isbat al-Ansar chief, Sheikh Abu Sharif Aqel - was intended to discipline the group, because of its rapprochement with factions inside Ain el-Hilweh, and “their cooperation to eradicate abnormal cases that tamper with the security of the camp.”
For his part, a member of the Palestinian Central Council, Haitham Zeaiter, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the wave of assassinations was a reflection of some groups’ terrorist ideology.
