The latest Israeli airstrike on a neighborhood in the Ain al Hilweh camp east of Sidon which resulted in deaths injuries and damage to dozens of homes has heightened Palestinian fears of a plan that Israel has begun to implement making the camps their residents and Palestinian leaders and cadres daily targets similar to what is happening in the south and parts of the Bekaa

This was not the first strike of its kind. Israeli drones had previously targeted Ain al Hilweh itself as well as the El Buss camp near Tyre in addition to the Beddawi camp in the north in more than one raid. Statistics indicate that since the ceasefire agreement came into effect about fourteen months ago Israel has carried out around eight strikes on those camps along with roughly eight assassination operations targeting members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements as they traveled on main and secondary roads. The most recent was a strike on a group of Islamic Jihad members traveling by car on the Masnaa Jdeidet Yabous road on their way to Damascus

Sources concerned with the Palestinian situation in Lebanon do not hide that since the ceasefire agreement took effect Palestinian factions and groups sought to halt all their activities adopt a policy of keeping a low profile and reduce their movements to a minimum including those of a social nature. However according to Ahmed Abdel Hadi the representative of Hamas in Lebanon Israel was targeting Palestinian civilians and public facilities under false military pretexts claiming that security force centers and youth playgrounds were military training sites with the aim of inciting hostility against the factions

Abdel Hadi adds: "More than that Israel was seeking to include the camps in its daily targeting of areas north and south of the Litani River."

Faction leaders say they recently received messages from Arab parties warning them that Israel intends to escalate its attacks on Ain al Hilweh camp and target Palestinian members outside the camp as well

Haytham Abdo, the official in Lebanon for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that "Israels targeting of the camps falls first within the policy of genocide against our people in Gaza and the West Bank and also comes within the framework of the ongoing aggression against the people of Lebanon its resistance and its sovereignty." 

He added: "When Israel attacks Ain al Hilweh camp or any other camp it is carrying out a systematic policy that goes beyond the camp itself to target all resistance forces in the region wherever they may be."

In response to a question, he answered: "In our estimation and the estimations of all factions, these attacks will continue and we have real fears of their repetition and escalation especially since Israel adopts a mowing the lawn policy based on launching preemptive strikes against any resistance member in Lebanon or Palestine."

In general military experts believe that Israel did not create a surprise when it recently carried out a raid on a densely populated neighborhood in Ain al Hilweh or when it targeted Islamic Jihad members on the Masnaa road. This is part of a strategy it has followed since the beginning of what it calls the support war within the scope of its daily objectives and what is new is its intention to expand the scope and range of these operations

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Annahar