Official: Fatah, PLO Lost Control of Lebanon Refugee Camps

The Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization have lost control of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, a Lebanon-based Fatah official told Ma'an news agency.

Fatah leader in Lebanon Muneer Maqdah told Ma'an on Saturday that Lebanese authorities told the PLO to adjust the situation in order "to avoid more aggravations" which they warned could have "negative impacts" on the refugee camps and on Lebanon more broadly.

The statement comes two days after a Palestinian was identified as one of the culprits of a double suicide bombing targeting the Iranian cultural center in southern Beirut. Officials are increasingly worried that economic deprivation in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon has laid fertile ground for Wahhabi militant groups.

Asked whether PLO officials have prepared a security plan to neutralize "extremists" in the refugee camps, Maqdah said such plans could be set up in cooperation with Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad when he visits Lebanon.