Beirut southern neighbourhood Beirut – Georges Chahin 12 Hezbollah members were wounded in west Beirut in clashes with an armed Kurdish group from Al-Omeirat family. The Kurdish group received back-up from a Salafist Palestinian group, who reside in Burj Al Barajneh area.
No Kurds or Palestinians were reported injured. Security sources told Arabstoday that the clashes took place at around 5:30pm on Monday on a street parallel to the Burj Al Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp. Handmade grenades and machineguns were used in the clashes, which lasted over two hours. The injured Hezbollah members were transferred to the group’s Al-Rasool Hospital.
Army and security forces could not enter the area until 8:30pm.
After a series of phone calls by leading security figures, an immediate ceasefire was established and the armed men retreated. The reason for the incident remains unclear, although tensions have been high between rival factions in the area, which is not controlled by Hezbollah. The same street also witnessed heavy clashes between the two sides last year when three people were killed by the Al-Omeiriat family’s militia.
Security sources told Arabstoday that Hezbollah has prevented internal security forces from entering the Al Rasool Hospital to speak with the injured.