Beirut — Lebanon has begun a controversial campaign to disarm Palestinian groups inside its refugee camps, marking the most significant attempt in decades to dismantle the armed autonomy that has long existed in these enclaves.
The operation started this week in Burj al-Barajneh camp, on the outskirts of Beirut, where a number of weapons were handed over. Officials described the move as the first step in a wider disarmament effort that could eventually spread across all 12 camps in the country.
Lebanese authorities have framed the effort as a sovereignty measure, designed to place all weapons under state control by the end of 2025. President Joseph Aoun, with backing from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, reaffirmed in May that “only the state should hold arms.” The army has been tasked with drawing up a comprehensive plan to enforce the directive.
For decades, Palestinian groups such as Fatah, Hamas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine maintained their armed structures inside Lebanon’s camps, born out of displacement and years of political exclusion. Analysts warn that disarming them now risks stripping already marginalized refugees of their last means of self-defense at a moment when Israel’s assault has intensified and the ongoing genocide in Gaza underscores the existential threat Palestinians face under relentless bombardment.
The timing is politically charged. Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful armed movement, has been weakened after sustained Israeli strikes in 2024 that decimated much of its senior command. Observers warn that targeting Palestinian camps now, while Hezbollah is vulnerable, signals a wider effort to reshape Lebanon’s power dynamics under Western pressure.
The United States, which brokered a truce deal with Hezbollah last year, has quietly pressed Beirut to consolidate weapons only under six designated state security forces. Critics argue this amounts to enforcing US and Israeli priorities in Lebanon, not Lebanese sovereignty, and further weakens the Palestinian resistance infrastructure that has stood for decades as a symbol of defiance.
For the roughly 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, who already face systematic discrimination in jobs, property rights, and political participation, disarmament could deepen insecurity. Without the protection of armed factions, many fear being left defenseless in a volatile region.
According to Al Jazeera, a Fatah official insisted that the weapons handed over so far were “only illegal arms that entered the camp recently,” raising questions about the sincerity and scope of the campaign. Yet Lebanon’s government insists this marks a turning point, one that will test whether the state is reclaiming its sovereignty, or simply dismantling another layer of Palestinian resistance under the shadow of foreign influence.
