Gen. Aoun inspects troops in Sidon as Saad's son escapes bullets

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on Thursday inspected troops at the Mohammed Zgheib Barracks in Sidon amid the ongoing deadly clashes in the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp on the city’s outskirts.

Aoun “met with the officers and soldiers and was briefed on the missions that they are performing amid the clashes that are taking place in the Ain el-Helweh camp,” an army statement said.

The commander lauded “the military personnel’s resilience, professionalism and sacrifices in the performance in their duties, especially during the current extraordinary circumstances,” the statement added.

Several soldiers have been wounded as gunfire and shells from the clashes hit army posts around the camp.

Seven people were killed in the camp on Wednesday alone, raising the death toll from six days of clashes to 16. Around 100 have also been wounded.

Bullets and shells have been falling on different parts of Sidon and dozens of Palestinian families have fled the camp.

On Thursday, the son of MP Osama Saad, Maarouf, narrowly escaped unharmed as stray bullets hit the room he was in inside his home in Sidon, the National News Agency said.

Stray bullets and shell shrapnel also struck the offices of the Sidon Trade Chamber, a school, residential buildings and a number of businesses in the city.

The fighting in the camp is pitting the mainstream Fatah Movement against two hardline Islamist groups.