BEIRUT — Rival groups armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers battled for hours Thursday inside a Palestinian military camp in a remote part of eastern Lebanon, security officials said.
One person was killed, said Anwar Raja, a spokesman for the group that runs the camp, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Lebanese officials could not confirm the death.
The Ein al-Bayda camp is one of several bases run by Palestinian militant groups in Lebanon. Most of them are located in the eastern Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria, whose government supports the groups.
The bases, which are separate from the country's Palestinian refugee camps, are illegal. Lebanese authorities, however, have left them be for fear that any clash with the groups could be explosive.
Thursday's fighting was between rival Palestinian groups and lasted three hours, Lebanese security officials said.
A senior military official said the fighting stopped after four militants — three Palestinians and a Lebanese man — handed themselves over to Lebanese troops. Lebanese forces were seen taking up positions near the base but did not intervene.
The security and military officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Associated Press
