Emergence of Fatah al-Islam splinter group stokes fears of clashes

BEIRUT: Fears of another battle between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and armed factions in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon spiked on Thursday, when a group of some 30 members of Fatah al-Intifada in the Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut split from the militant Islamist group after a dispute that remains murky in nature. Sources in the camp told Al-Liwaa newspaper that Abu Ali Hadeed, a Jordanian-born Palestinian living in the camp, and a Lebanese man identified only as "Jihad K.," orchestrated a factional rift while "bringing along several armed members and their weaponry." The split closely mirrors the creation of Fatah al-Islam, which fought the LAF in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp outside of Tripoli last year in a battle that claimed the lives of 170 soldiers and around 220 militants while destroying much of the... [read full story]