by Staff Writers – SpaceWar.com
Beirut, Lebanon (UPI) Mar 29, 2009
Tension is mounting in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps as the top military chieftain refuses to step down on the orders of President Mahmoud Abbas, deepening political rifts within the camps that could be exploited by Syria and Hezbollah.
Abbas warned earlier this month that Ein al-Hilweh, the largest and most volatile of the 12 camps in Lebanon, “might explode at any time” because of intra-Palestinian feuding.
Other Palestinian officials say Islamist groups are gaining strength and growing bolder in challenging the supremacy of Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian movement headed by Abbas.
But the complex and increasingly volatile situation within the camps, and particularly in Ein al-Hilweh, in the southern port city of Sidon, is being complicated further by Iranian and Syrian intrigues and the threat of a new conflict with Israel.
With the Palestinian cause deeply splintered, the mutiny by Brig. Munir al-Maqdah, the overall security chief in the camps in Lebanon who is based in Ein al-Hilweh, could seriously undercut Abbas’ already weakened authority and trigger new internal rifts.
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