SIDON, Lebanon: “We’re waiting for my brother to come to Lebanon so that we can bury Walid,” Hayel Yassin said, referring to his brother, 41-year-old Fatah Movement official Walid Yassin, who died after sustaining serious injuries following a shootout in Ain al-Hilweh Wednesday night. “He was killed unfairly next to his bird shop, his source of living,” Yassin said.
The shooting on Fawqani Street marks yet another deadly security breach in the southern Palestinian refugee camp – Lebanon’s largest – and put residents and Palestinian security forces deployed in the camp to tackle the ongoing deterioration on high alert for acts of revenge.
With the crowded camp’s population swollen by 10,000 mostly Palestinian refugees from Syria, putting the total number of residents at around 90,000, the security situation in the camp has been fragile for several months.
After assassinations – particularly of officials and members of the Fatah party – and gunfights became more and more frequent, a 150-member elite force composed of members of the camp’s various factions was deployed in July, leading to an easing of tensions.
But Wednesday’s incident has put the camp on edge again, and parents refrained from sending their children to the camp’s schools Thursday out of fear of retaliatory acts.
“I refused to send my children [to school],” said Ibrahim Khattab. “If they die, who’s going to bring them back? Who’s to be blamed? It’s better for them to sit at home.”
From evidence collected at the scene, eyewitness accounts and footage from surveillance cameras in the camp, the elite security force has been able to build up a picture of what happened.
According to Palestinian sources close to the investigations, the crime was carried out by two masked armed men who have been identified but whose names will not be released until the investigation is finished. The armed groups the perpetrators are believed to be close to have said they will not protect them.
One of the men shot Yassin at close range, while the other opened fire from a distance, sources said.
Four others were wounded in the attack: Mohammed Yousef al-Yousef, 32; Suheir Said Salameh, 43; Mohammed Musa Haleel, 18 and Hasan Mohammed Radi Abu Daoud al-Shaheer, also 18.
As news of the incident and allegations of responsibility spread on social media, all eyes were on the camp’s Islamist factions, who many believe to be behind the attack.
Al-Shabab al-Muslim, which includes members of Jund al-Sham and Fatah al-Islam, promptly issued a statement directly denouncing the attack, adding that the murder had been conducted by “sinful hired hands” who wanted to create tensions in the camp.
According to Palestinian sources, the camp’s Islamist factions – particularly Osbat al-Ansar and the Islamic Jihad Movement – are fully collaborating with the ongoing investigations into the crime.
Security forces officials have insisted that the camp’s security and stability is the top priority.
“The situation in the camp is stable, and all the factions present inside the camp have agreed to remain calm,” said Maj. Gen. Sobhi Abu Arab, Fatah’s head of national security.
He told The Daily Star that the attack against Yassin had been conducted by infiltrators who wanted to sabotage the camp, and vowed that they would be punished.
He met Thursday with Samir Shehadeh, the head of the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch in the south, in order to strengthen cooperation between the Lebanese government and Palestinian factions and emphasize their keenness to keep the Palestinian refugee camps out of domestic conflicts.
“We know that the residents of the camp don’t want another Nahr al-Bared,” he said, referring to the northern camp that was flattened during clashes between Fatah al-Islam militants and the Army in 2007.
“They want security and everyone wants the security forces.”
Abu Arab’s comments were echoed by the head of the new elite force, Gen. Khaled Shayeb, a senior Fatah official.
“We are working on collecting evidence and information against the two armed men who opened fire on Yassin,” Shayeb said, revealing that Yassin had already survived a previous assassination attempt.
“There’s no place for failure and we are deploying patrols in the camp. Calm has been restored.”
The elite security force’s deployment in the camp, which was delayed for several months, has proven to be a vital step for the camp, because now when incidents such as Yassin’s murder occur, there is a single force that can step in.
A Fatah official revealed that the success of the force meant that there were plans to expand it and replicate it in other Palestinian camps in collaboration with the Lebanese authorities in the upcoming weeks.
The official explained that the first deployment of the elite security forces outside of Ain al-Hilweh were to take place in the Rashidieh refugee camp near Tyre, and would involve 175 members from various factions in the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Some of these new recruits will be added to the Ain al-Hilweh group, while the others will go toward two new forces in the Burj al-Barajneh and Shatila camps in Beirut. Another force is also due to be established in the Mieh Mieh camp near Sidon.
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