Islamists battle Lebanon army at second camp
AIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon, June 4 (Reuters) - Islamist militants killed two Lebanese soldiers at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Monday in an apparent attempt to relieve pressure on al Qaeda-inspired fighters besieged by the army in the north.
Two fighters of the Sunni militant group Jund al-Sham were also killed in rifle, grenade and mortar exchanges that erupted at an entrance to the big Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon, security and military sources said. Witnesses said the fighting at Ain al-Hilweh, started by Jund al-Sham on Sunday night, subsided later on Monday. Three soldiers and two civilians were also wounded.
The clashes were the latest jolt to stability in Lebanon, already shaken by a protracted political crisis pitting the Western-backed government against Syria's Lebanese allies.
Hundreds of civilians fled Ain al-Hilweh, a sprawling shantytown perched on a hillside above Sidon, 42 km (26 miles) south of Beirut. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction dominates the camp, but small Islamist groups have a foothold there and in several other refugee camps in Lebanon.
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Labels: Ain al-Hilweh, Fatah, Jund al-Sham, Lebanon, Palistinians
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