Lebanon has launched a plan to disarm Palestinian groups in its refugee camps, beginning with the handover of weapons from Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut.
The prime minister’s office announced on Thursday that the weapons transfer to the Lebanese army marks the start of a wider disarmament campaign. More handovers are expected in the coming weeks across Burj al-Barajneh and other camps nationwide.
A Fatah official told the Reuters news agency the arms handed over so far were only illegal weapons that had entered the camp within the previous day. Television footage showed military vehicles inside the camp, though Reuters could not verify what type of weapons were being surrendered.
The initiative follows Lebanon’s commitment under a US-backed truce between Israel and Hezbollah in November, which restricted weapons to six state security forces. Since the November 27, 2024, ceasefire agreement, Israel has continued attacking Lebanon, often on a weekly basis.
The government has tasked the army with producing a strategy by the end of the year to consolidate all arms under state authority.
According to the prime minister’s office, the decision to disarm Palestinian factions was reached in a May meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A stable government with monopoly on violence can not co-exist with such groups.
Sounds like Lebanon doesn’t want the war to spread to their land?
Disarming refugees is a pretty standard procedure. You don’t see armed refugees anywhere else, so why would it be okay for palestinians in Lebanon?
If anything, having a militia with base in a refugee camp is just going to invite Israel to bomb a shitload of refugees.
I mean come on, fuck Israel and all that, but complaining about refugees having illegal weapons taken away is fucking stupid, and just makes regular people turn away from your course.
Zionists are already spreading the holocaust by violating the ceasefire daily in Lebanon.
Whether refugees are armed or not, Zionists will still murder them with impunity. This is happening in occupied Gaza, in the occupied West Bank and in newly Lebensraum-ed parts of southern Syria. So why remove their legitimate means of resistance?
Nonviolence is the privilege of the powerful. Whitewashing Zionist savagery doesn’t work.
