Palestinian factions hand over truckloads of weapons in Lebanon’s largest refugee camp

A Palestinian flag painted on a wall full of bullet holes is seen in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. A Palestinian security force deployed Friday in a school complex in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp in the country's south, replacing gunmen who had occupied it since fighting broke out in late July leaving more than 30 people dead. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

SIDON, Lebanon — Palestinian factions in two refugee camps in Lebanon handed over truckloads of weapons to authorities on Saturday as part of a deal reached earlier this year to remove arms not under Lebanese state control.

The latest transfer of weapons, which has been slow since it began last month, took place in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, the largest in Lebanon, near the southern port city of Sidon, and the Beddawi refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli.

State-run National News Agency and a Palestinian spokesman said three trucks full of weapons from the Beddawi camp were headed to a Lebanese army barracks inside Tripoli.

The spokesman for the Palestinian National Security Forces in Lebanon, Abdul Hadi al-Assadi, said in a statement that five truckloads of weapons also were handed over at Ein el-Hilweh. He said the weapons belonged to factions that are part of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Over the past few weeks, weapons were handed over to Lebanese troops in camps in Beirut and the southern province of Tyre.

The 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are not controlled by the Lebanese state. Ein el-Hilweh, home to nearly 75,000 people, includes militant Islamic groups that are not part of the deal to hand over the weapons. Clashes between members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group and rival Islamist factions in 2023 left 30 people dead and hundreds wounded.

Palestinian refugees and their ancestors in Lebanon are not given citizenship, ostensibly to preserve their right to go back to the homes they fled or were forced from during the 1948 creation of the state of Israel, which now bans them from returning. They are prohibited from working in most professions, from medicine to the banking sector. Because of restrictions on ownership, what little property they have is bought under Lebanese names, leaving them vulnerable to embezzlement and expropriation.

Ahmad Mantash, The Associated Press