Armed Clashes Erupts in Ain El-Hilweh Camp in Southern Lebanon

The sounds of intermittent shooting continued early on Thursday between the Fatah movement and members of an group led by Bilal Badr in the southern Palestinian refuge camp of Ain el-Hilweh, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Armed clashes had erupted Wednesday night between Fatah fighters and members of the extremist group led by Badr, where machine guns, bombs and rocket propelled grenades were used between a vegetable market and the camp's al-Fawqani street. The gun battles erupted against the backdrop of a killing incident that left cab driver, Simon Taha, dead on Monday. 

Relatives of slain Taha attempted to block al-Fawqani street in protest to their son's killing, which escalated to an armed clash with gunmen. Major General Munir al-Maqdah, Head of the Palestinian Joint Security Force, which is responsible for security inside Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps later told NNA that calm has prevailed and added that a committee has been formed to investigate into the assassination of Taha in order to apprehend the killers.