Erection of checkpoint stokes tensions in Baddawi
The erection by the Lebanese Army of a new checkpoint just outside a northern Palestinian refugee camp put several factions on alert over the weekend, and raised fears of violence flaring there. “There is a decision by the Lebanese Army to tighten the grip on the security situation in the north and crack down on terrorist cells there,” a well-informed security source told The Daily Star on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Lebanese Army built the checkpoint only a few meters away from a post occupied by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the Baddawi camp.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an army spokesman said the situation in the camp was “not serious and on its way to being solved.”
“The army has gathered information that certain parties are working on stirring sectarian and security tensions in the north and it is taking the necessary measures to counter such threats,” the source said.
The army’s decision to erect the checkpoint angered some Palestinian factions inside the camp, mainly the Syrian-backed PFLP-GC, whose forces has been on “high alert” since then, according to security reports.
“News about us being on alert is inaccurate, we are simply surprised by such a decision,” said PFLP-GC’s representative in Lebanon Abu Imad Ramez.
Ramez said the residents of Baddawi were “even more bothered by the decision, which they say only aims at making their access to the camp painstaking.”
“We in Baddawi feel that our camp is being turned into another Ain al-Hilweh,” he added, in reference to Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, located near the coastal city of Sidon.
The army has maintained only a single entrance gate to Ain al-Hilweh, which is considered a haven for outlaws.
Ramez said the Baddawi residents fear that their camp might be turned “into a second Nahr al-Bared.”
The northern camp of Nahr al-Bared was reduced to rubble in 2007 after deadly battles between the Lebanese army and the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group.
The security source said the army’s decision to erect an additional checkpoint outside Baddawi is twofold.
“First of all the army wants to prevent any attempt by terrorist groups to infiltrate the camp and second it wishes to crack down on any dormant terrorist cells inside the camp,” the source said.
Last week, Lebanese soldiers arrested Wissam Thaibesh, a member of the Fatah al-Islam as he was about to enter Ain al-Hilweh. Thaibesh was wanted by authorities for alleged involvement in several terrorist attacks in Lebanon.
The majority of Nahr al-Bared residents fled to the neighboring Baddawi camp in 2007 to escape the battles. Some of the members of Fatah al-Islam are also believed to have escaped inside Baddawi.
According to the PFLP-GC official, his group has cooperated with the Army on several occasions and has helped arrest wanted people inside Baddawi.
“We are always willing to cooperate with the army so if they have information about terrorists inside Baddawi, Palestinian factions will help arrest them and hand them over to the army,” Ramez said.
Asked whether the Nahr al-Bared scenario would be repeated in Baddawi, the army spokesman said there was “nothing to worry about.”
In other news, former Future MP Mustapha Alloush accused Hizbullah over the weekend of “forming militias” in the northern city of Tripoli
Speaking to Saudi-owned daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat in comments published on Sunday, the former MP said Hizbullah has been trying to “recruit individuals to carry out militia-related activities.”
Hizbullah were not available for comment on Sunday.