Cautious calm prevails in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain Al-Hilweh as the ceasefire which took effect on Thursday afternoon seems to be holding, local media reported on Friday.
More than fifteen hours have passed since the implementation of the agreement at 18:00 (local time) on Thursday.
Ever since, the camp has been witnessing tranquility, with the exception of intermittent gunfire that was heard around midnight and a bomb tossed earlier on Friday morning, National News Agency reported.
The clashes, which pitted fighters of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, against fighters affiliated with Islamic factions have killed 17 people and injured more than 150 others, according to medical reports.
The new truce was announced on Thursday after more than a week of deadly violence in Lebanon’s largest refugee camp, which lies in the outskirts of the port city of Sidon.
“The two parties agreed to implement a ceasefire… starting today at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT),” Palestinian camp official Fuad Othman tells AFP by telephone.
The agreement came after Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri met separately with Fatah’s Azzam al-Ahmad and Hamas’s Moussa Abu Marzuk on Thursday.
Hamas is not involved in the fighting but is in contact with the fighters of the Islamic factions, Othman said.
Source: Al-Manar English Website and Local media
