Calm returns to Ain al-Hilweh after clashes

Calm returned to the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh Wednesday evening after two shooting incidents left several people wounded. The first incident occurred when Hammad Salameh entered the offices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the camp where the Palestinian Popular Committees were holding a meeting and sprayed them using a fire extinguisher. Sounds of gunshots echoed in the camp when Palestinian National Security personnel arrived at the scene to arrest Salameh. One man, Taan Salameh, was struck by bullets in the chest and legs. He was taken to hospital inside the camp and was in stable condition. Salameh is a bodyguard for the head of the Palestinian National security body, Maj. Gen. Sobhi Abu Arab, but had been off duty at the time. Members of the Beirut UNRWA office were also at the meeting. Some of them suffered difficulty breathing and were transferred to a hospital. Following the incident, gunmen were seen roaming the camp’s streets while UNRWA asked some 10,000 students in the schools around the camp to evacuate. Gunfire was heard again in the camp as a second altercation broke out among members of the Fatah Movement, resulting in the injury of at least three people. The wounded were transported to a hospital in Sidon.