Lebanon is seeking to disarm armed groups that operate in various Palestinian refugee camps, according to media reports.
Over the past several decades, the camps have been lawless areas where weapons are stockpiled. Palestinian terrorist groups and other armed groups have operated from the camps since the era of the Lebanese civil war. Factions linked to Hamas, Fatah, and others operate there.
According to the Arab Weekly, “Lebanon begins disarmament of Palestinian factions with Fatah in Burj al-Barajneh, where Palestinian factions have long operated with relative autonomy in several of Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps, which fall largely outside the jurisdiction of the Lebanese state.”
The Burj al-Barajneh camp, in southern Beirut, was founded in 1948. Damaged in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, it has grown from a few thousand residents in the 1980s to some 18,000 people today. Reports say many displaced Syrians also live in the area.
The current Lebanese leadership is trying to consolidate arms in the hands of the state. It wants to take arms from Hezbollah, but it is concentrating on smaller factions first, such as disarming Druze factions and Palestinians.
'No reason for Palestinians to have arms in Lebanon'
The current Lebanese leadership is trying to consolidate arms in the hands of the state. It wants to take arms from Hezbollah, but it is concentrating on smaller factions first, such as disarming Druze factions and Palestinians. According to a report at the pro-Iranian Al-Akhbar Gebran Gerge Bassil, a Lebanese politician who is the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, gave a speech about the need to disarm various groups in Lebanon. He said Hezbollah must realize that circumstances have changed. Lebanon’s president and prime minister support the new policy.
He said Hezbollah must realize that circumstances have changed. Lebanon’s president and prime minister support the new policy.
“Here’s the difference,” Bassil said in a speech he delivered at the annual dinner of the Zahrani Judicial Authority. “We want one army and one weapon. We want an arms monopoly. We want Hezbollah and all those who bear arms to realize that circumstances have changed and defending Lebanon has different requirements,” the report said.
“This is where the mistake lies,” he said. “He is the one who created a wrong policy that tied Lebanon to foreign policies and foreign interests, for which they paid the price here and abroad, and which we have opposed since 2006.” He further said that “our mission is to defend Lebanon, and the Palestinians’ mission is to defend Palestine... therefore, we do not support Palestinian weapons, neither inside nor outside the camps.”
He said there was no reason for Palestinians to have arms in Lebanon. They should be fighting in “Palestine,” meaning in Israel or Gaza. “We are with you in surrendering your weapons, not in staging plays. We are with you in entrusting the army with a mission it can actually carry out, not sending it into the abyss to fail because you made a decision, and we want it to succeed.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League Hossam Zaki was also quoted as saying that it is important for the Lebanese army to exclusively have weapons. In an interview with Cairo News Channel, Zaki said that his visit to Beirut “is part of supporting the Lebanese state’s efforts to extend its sovereignty over all its territories and restrict its control of weapons.”
In Lebanon, the pro-Iranian factions continue to take a wait-and-see approach as to whether the government will actually disarm Hezbollah. So far, it is disarming the low-hanging fruit, choosing targets that it assumes will make it easy to legitimize its later efforts against Hezbollah. US envoy Tom Barrack and other American officials are watching closely.