Free Republic

A new Palestinian militant group whose members have been trained to carry out rocket-launching and bombing operations was reportedly formed in the southern refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh to carry out among others an attack on the Egyptian embassy. Al-Balad daily reported on Sunday that a Palestinian named Jamal Hamad formed the organization, which he named "Jihad movement for the victory of Gaza" with the assistance of Ghandi Sahmarani, a Lebanese wanted from the authorities on several terrorist charges. The newspaper said several militants from Jund al-Sham and Osbat al-Ansar have joined the new group. The militants have received training...

A masked gunman opened fire outside the home of a Fatah official in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday, seriously wounding his younger brother, camp security sources said. The likely intended target was Jamil Zeidan, a military official with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. He remained inside the house in the Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp and was not injured, the sources told Reuters. The gunman shot at Jamil's younger brother Osama Zeidan and a group of guards outside the house, hitting Osama in the head and neck. The guards returned fire, but the gunman escaped unhurt. Osama Zeidan,...

Three Lebanese security officers were shot dead on Thursday during a raid on the home of a member of a Palestinian Islamist group in the southern port city of Sidon, security sources said. They said they were targeting a member of Usbat al-Ansar, a radical group based in the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh. According to Reuters, witnesses said the Lebanese army rushed to seal off the area and detained several people. Usbat al-Ansar is headed by a Palestinian Islamist who is a fugitive from a death sentence in Lebanon. The United States has ordered a freeze on...