1. Grenade attack on Fatah office in Lebanon
BEIRUT, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Unidentified assailants threw a hand grenade at the office of Fatah movement in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday. Fatah commander in Lebanon Sultan Abul Aynein said that the grenade was found next to the headquarters of the Fatah movement in the Rashdiyeh refugee camp, near southern Lebanese city of Tyre. He added the assailants threw the bomb after a “family dispute”. On Sunday, Abul Aynein accused external parties of seeking to “export” al-Qaida fighters to refugee camps across Lebanon.
2. Merkel sends advisor to Lebanon in unannounced visit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign policy and security advisor Christoph Heusgen kicked off talks with top Lebanese leaders on Tuesday. Heusgen met with Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami and Premier Saad Hariri. He is also expected to hold talks with President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri during a several hour visit to Beirut. An Nahar and al-Mustaqbal dailies said Berlin did not announce details of the visit. However, Merkel’s advisor will travel to Damascus later in the day through the Masnaa border crossing.
3. Israel carries out two separate air raids on Gaza
GAZA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Israeli war jets on Monday evening carried out two separate air raids on Palestinian militants in northern and eastern Gaza Strip, no injuries were reported, witnesses and security sources said. The witnesses said that an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired one missile at a group of Gaza militants east of Gaza City, the militants survived and no injuries or damaged were reported. Hamas security sources said that Israeli warplanes, mainly F-16 and drones have been hovering over several areas in the Gaza Strip for several hours.
4. last week: experts say ’sleeper cells’ in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon
Despite the relative calm of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps in recent months, experts warn that Islamist groups are still operating within and could strike at any time. At Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon’s 12 camps, which is known to harbor extremists and fugitives, small sleeper cells have kept a low profile but could mobilize quickly depending on developments, they say….By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinians.
5. February 2009: Brussels based think tank says Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps a “time bomb”
Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps are breeding grounds for extremist groups and constitute a “time bomb” that needs urgent attention, the International Crisis Group think-tank said Thursday. Successive Lebanese governments were largely to blame for a “catastrophic” situation in the camps which were set up after the creation of Israel in 1948, the Brussels-based ICG said in a report.
