Panic in Beirut following Clashes between Fatah, Jibril”s PFLP-GC

Clashes broke out Friday between the mainstream Fatah movement and Ahmed Jibril”s pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in Beirut”s Borj al-Barajneh refugee camp, causing panic among students and teachers at nearby schools.

 

Many parents rushed to pick up their children upon hearing news of the shootout around 12 p.m., witnesses said.

 

Police said a number of people were wounded in the fighting with machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades which centered around Quds Square near the Amliyeh district.

 

The Lebanese army quickly sent troops to deal with the situation.

 

PFLP-GC official Hamzeh al-Bastawi said that the shooting was the result of an “individual incident.”

 

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, however, said the camp”s committee successfully contained the fighting.

 

Meanwhile, tension also ran high in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon after Fatah members blocked a march planned by the radical Hamas group.

 

Jibril told Lebanon”s New TV channel in an interview on Nov. 10 that violence was likely to break out inside Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon ahead of the presidential elections.

 

Jibril did not rule out the possibility of inter-Palestinian or Sunni-Shiite battles inside Borj al-Barajneh refugee camp.