Palestinian factions at three refugee camps in southern Lebanon handed over weapons to the army on Thursday as part of the government's drive to disarm all non-state actors in the country.
The Lebanese Armed Forces said it "received a quantity of Palestinian weapons" from the Rashidieh, Al Bass and Burj Al Shamali camps in Tyre.
The weapons handed over included machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades, Lebanon's National News Agency said. Seven lorries took the weapons to an army barracks in the Shawakir area of Tyre city.
The Palestinian ambassador to Beirut, Ramez Dimashkieh, who is also head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee that was tasked with implementing the disarmament process, told reporters that more Palestinian camps in Beirut will hand over their weapons to the army on Friday.
Disarming the camps comes under a broader initiative by Lebanese leaders to limit and disarm all non-state forces, including the Iran-backed Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah.
The issue is a sensitive one as Israel carries out regular strikes on Lebanon, with Hezbollah accusing ministers of bowing to US and Israeli pressure. Two Lebanese troops were killed on Thursday while inspecting a crashed Israeli drone in the south of the country, the army said.
The handover of weapons in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps began on August 21 at the Burj Al Barajneh camp in Beirut. Only factions affiliated to the Palestine Liberation Organisation are taking part, including the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian factions opposed to Mr Abbas, including Hamas and its ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have rejected the plan as "unilateral".
While it is not clear exactly which factions are handing over their weapons, there has also been resistance to disarmament from some members of the PLO, which contains representatives of a diverse array of Palestinian factions with varying ideologies.
Mr Dimashkieh told Associated Press that his group had held “initial talks” with Hamas and that he was “quite optimistic that we will make headway” with bringing them on board.
