The Lebanese army, a branch of the Lebanese Armed Forces, began disarming some of the country’s Palestinian Arab refugee camps on Thursday, regional media reported.
Troops entered the Burj al-Barajneh camp to collect arms and ammunition in what is intended to be the first step of removing weapons from armed Palestinian Arab groups throughout the country and restoring security authority to the control of Lebanon.
The dozen official Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon house more than 200,000 Palestinians and have long hosted members of Fatah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed militias and terrorist groups, who have used the country as a staging ground for attacks on Israel, particularly in the north.
Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria who has been negotiating the disarmament plan with Lebanese officials, welcomed the first step.
“Congrats to the Lebanese government and Fatah for their agreement on voluntary disarmament in Beirut camps, a great accomplishment as a result of the bold action recently taken by the Lebanese Council of Ministers,” he wrote.
The disarmament operation does not yet include an agreement or plan to seize weapons from Hezbollah north of the Litani River.
The Lebanese cabinet approved by vote earlier in August to start removing Hezbollah’s arms on an open-ended timeline.
Leaders of the terrorist group reacted with fury. “Handing over the weapons is suicide, and we do not intend to commit suicide,” said Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament. “We choose death over handing over the weapons.”
