Deterring infiltration: Lebanon builds wall near camp

The overcrowded and impoverished camp has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives

SIDON: Lebanon is building a wall near the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp to prevent militants from infiltrating, a military source said Monday. The overcrowded and impoverished Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern coastal city of Sidon has gained notoriety in recent years as a refuge for extremists and fugitives. It also saw deadly fighting last year between the Jund al Sham and members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement. “The construction of the wall began some time ago and the aim is to stop the infiltration of terrorists inside Ain al-Hilweh from nearby orchards,” the military source said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2016.