BEIRUT: Lebanon's Interior Minister and a Palestinian official Tuesday dismissed reports that Shadi Mawlawi, one of Lebanon’s most wanted terrorists, was still inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in the southern city of Sidon.
"Shadi Mawlawi is in the Arsal area with the Nusra Front," Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk told MTV news television channel.
A report Monday published in local daily As-Safir said Mawlawi had fled Ain al-Hilweh to hide with Islamist militants fighting on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.
Ahmad Abed-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 camp,” he told The Daily Star.
Abed-Hadi was commenting after reports emerged Tuesday saying Mawlawi was still inside the camp despite confirmation Sunday that he had left.
The announcement made Sunday by Sheikh Jamal Khattab, spiritual leader of Islamist factions in Sidon’s 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,” Abed-Hadi stressed.
“Whether Shadi 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 in order not to provide a safe haven for outlaws.”
Spokesman for Osbat al-Ansar made similar remarks.
“Information in our possession and [Lebanon’s] Interior Ministry show that Mawlawi had left the camp,” the spokesman told the Voice of Lebanon radio. “This issue is over.”
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