BEIRUT, Lebanon, October 8 (Lebanonwire) -- On the eve of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s meeting with representatives of Palestinian factions to discuss the fate of the armed militia groups, the Lebanese army raided several Palestinian training bases in the Biqaa valley and tightened the noose around the refugee camps, Al Mustakbal daily reported Saturday.

The army confiscated a large cache of weapons that pro-Syrian Palestinian groups used in training exercises while according to Reuters, Palestinian Militia announced a state of alert following the army’s tight security measures it erected around the camps, in what the agency described as “procedures taken only hours after Siniora declared that Palestinian weapons outside the camps was unnecessary.”

According to the daily, the army fortified its presence around all the camps and along the Syria-Lebanese borders. One unit forced its way into a base for “Al Saika” (lightening) in Central Biqaa, confiscating Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) and a number of machine guns and ammunition, but making no arrests, while another raided a Western Biqaa base for Fatah-Intifada, both pro-Syrian Palestinian groups.

In commemoration of its initiation, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, organized a tour for the media, where armed militia were observed guarding the tunnels and gates leading into the largest Palestinian refugee camp Ein El Hilweh. In a statement to Al Mustakbal, the PFLP-GC said, “this show of force confirms the group’s political and popular presence in the camps.”

The developments come as Special Advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; minister Samih Abdul-Fattah announced, “Siniora had shown a great understanding to the complicated Palestinian situation.”

“The law that applies to Lebanese also applies to Palestinians and the meeting with Siniora will undoubtedly enable us to arrive to a common understanding that avoids any explosive escalation to the current uneasiness,” Abdul-Fattah said Friday.

Chief of the Fatah movement in Lebanon Sultan Abou Al Aynayn meanwhile issued a statement Friday in support of Siniora who had received threats from PFLP-GC two days earlier., saying, “We trust no one has evil intents against the Palestinians.” He also stated that the camps’ state of alert are nothing but dual security measures with the Lebanese army to prevent an Israeli offensive."

In turn, President Emile Lahoud told the Journalists Union president Melhim Karam Friday that “we don’t want any confrontations with the Palestinians, but it serves no one if they point their guns in a direction other than the one they originally intended to.”

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