BEIRUT: Hezbollah clashed with jihadis who were trying to infiltrate Lebanese territory in northeast Lebanon Tuesday evening as mystery continued to shroud the whereabouts of fugitive Islamist Chadi Mawlawi. Violent clashes ensued Tuesday evening between Hezbollah and militants in the outskirts of the village of Nahleh northeast of the town of Baalbek, as the party foiled an infiltration attempt into Lebanese lands.
In an attempt to thwart the advance of militants, security sources said Hezbollah clashed with militants in Wadi al-Khashaa in the outskirts of the town.
Hezbollah heavily pounded militant hideouts in the outskirts of Nahleh, with the sound of artillery echoing across the Baalbek area, the sources said.
Meanwhile the location of fugitive terror suspect Chadi Mawlawi remained unclear. While the interior minister and Palestinian officials confirmed that he had left Ain al-Hilweh camp, a security source said he was likely still inside.
“Chadi Mawlawi is in the Arsal area with the Nusra Front,” Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk told MTV news television channel.
While clarifying that it was not the first time fighters were smuggled into Arsal’s outskirts, Machnouk said authorities were tracking Mawlawi.
In an interview earlier this month, Machnouk said that Mawlawi and Osama Mansour, another fugitive Islamist, have managed to sneak to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, located on the outskirts of Sidon.
Mawlawi and Mansour fled to Ain al-Hilweh after fighting a deadly battle against Lebanese Army troops in the city of Tripoli last October.
Last week, Fatah Movement official Azzam al-Ahmad, who is in charge of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, said during a visit that refugee camps in the country would not shelter wanted people.
Ahmad Abdel-Hadi, deputy political Hamas leader in Lebanon, also insisted that Mawlawi had left the camp.
“We have received assurances from the camp’s Islamist groups, including Osbat al-Ansar, and from Lebanese security authorities that Mawlawi was no longer in Ain al-Hilweh,” he told The Daily Star.
Abdel-Hadi was commenting after news emerged Tuesday that Mawlawi was still inside the camp despite reports Sunday that he had left.
Sunday’s announcement by Sheikh Jamal Khattab, spiritual leader of Islamist factions in Ain al-Hilweh, was the first confirmation that Mawlawi was no longer in the camp.
“There is consensus among all Palestinian factions that it is forbidden for Mawlawi to stay inside the camp,” Abdel-Hadi stressed.
“Whether Chadi is still in the camp, or had left two days ago, or left an hour ago, or he would be leaving in an hour, it doesn’t matter,” he argued. “What matters is that there is a decision banning him from staying at the camp so that it does not become a safe haven for outlaws.”
The spokesperson for Osbat al-Ansar made similar remarks.
“Information in our possession and [Lebanon’s] Interior Ministry show that Mawlawi had left the camp,” the spokesperson told the Voice of Lebanon radio.
“This issue is over.”
But a security source said he doubted that Mawlawi had actually left the camp.
Earlier Tuesday, the Lebanese Army shelled sporadically the outskirts of the northeastern Bekaa Valley town of Ras Baalbek, in a pre-emptive move aimed at fending off jihadi militants holed up in the rugged border area with Syria, security sources said.
Troops have been bombing intermittently the outskirts of Ras Baalbek since Sunday.
The area was the scene of deadly battles Friday between the Lebanese Army and jihadis who tried to overrun a military post in nearby Tallet al-Hamra, a strategic hill.
The Syria-based militants launched a surprise attack on an Army post in Tallet al-Hamra, prompting clashes that lasted for over 16 hours. The Army retook the hill at the end of the fighting.
Eight Lebanese soldiers were killed and at least 22 others wounded in the altercation. At least 40 militants, whose bodies were discovered on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, were also killed, most of them in Army airstrikes.
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