Fatah in South Lebanon say that the UNWRA school were 'taken over by terrorists'.
Abu Iyad Shaalan, the commander of Fatah's Palestinian National Security in Lebanon's Sidon area, said in an August 18, 2023 show on Falastinona TV (Fatah-Lebanon) that the recent statement of the director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon condemning the presence of armed groups in UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) schools is insufficient.
He asserted that the director must specify the groups in question, enforce their removal from the schools, and return them to the Lebanese government. Shaalan elaborated that UNRWA schools are currently being used as military barracks by terrorist takfiri groups, from where they plan to confront Fatah forces.
Shaalan’s interview comes on the backdrop of last month’s clashes in the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, during which his predecessor, Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi was assassinated by Islamic militants.