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UNRWA Suspends Services in Palestinian Refugee Camp in Lebanon after Clashes

FILE - Palestinian boys jump during a soccer training session at a school run by the agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, at Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, on June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - Palestinian boys jump during a soccer training session at a school run by the agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, at Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, on June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
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UNRWA Suspends Services in Palestinian Refugee Camp in Lebanon after Clashes

FILE - Palestinian boys jump during a soccer training session at a school run by the agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, at Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, on June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - Palestinian boys jump during a soccer training session at a school run by the agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, at Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, on June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has suspended services at the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon to protest the presence of armed fighters around its schools and other facilities within the area.

Deadly clashes broke out last month at the Ain el-Hilweh camp near the southern city of Sidon after Islamist gunmen tried to assassinate Fatah leader Mahmoud Khalil, forcing hundreds to flee.

"The Agency does not tolerate actions that breach the inviolability and neutrality of its installations,” UNRWA said in a statement.

It said that schools in the camp were unlikely to be available for 3,200 children at the start of the new school year.

"UNRWA reiterates its call on armed actors to immediately vacate its facilities, to ensure unimpeded delivery of much needed assistance to Palestine Refugees," the agency added.

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Israeli Airstrike Targets Hezbollah Weapons Facility in Syria

This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon on October 28, 2024. (AFP)
This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon on October 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Israeli Airstrike Targets Hezbollah Weapons Facility in Syria

This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon on October 28, 2024. (AFP)
This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon on October 28, 2024. (AFP)

The Israeli military said it conducted an airstrike on a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in Syria on Tuesday.

The military said the strike targeted the facility run by Hezbollah’s munitions unit in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr, near the border with Lebanon. It said Hezbollah had recently expanded its facilities in the area to step up weapons smuggling into Lebanon from Syria.

The strikes hit an industrial zone in al-Qusayr, according to Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a conflict-monitoring group. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria over recent years, primarily targeting government-controlled areas, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses these operations. The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.

On Monday, an Israeli airstrike struck near the Sayida Zeinab suburb, south of Damascus, an area where Iran-backed groups are active. The Israeli military claimed responsibility for killing the head of Hezbollah’s military branch in Syria, whom it identified as Mahmoud Mohammed Shaheen.

For the past month, Israel has been carrying out an escalated bombardment campaign in Lebanon, aiming to cripple the Hezbollah armed group, which is allied with Syria and Iran. Israel has also launched ground incursions just across the Israel-Lebanon border, saying it aims to put an end to a year of Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel.