عون: نزع سلاح 3 مخيمات فلسطينية منتصف يونيو

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced the formation of joint committees to address the issue of the presence of Palestinian weapons in the refugee camps hosted by his country.

During his meeting with an American delegation headed by Angus King today (Monday), Aoun said: "We have formed Lebanese-Palestinian committees, and work will begin in the middle of next month in 3 Palestinian camps to address the issue of the presence of Palestinian weapons there," without providing further details about these camps and the mechanisms of work.

The Lebanese president considered today that starting to lift American sanctions on Syria is "a good option," as improving the Syrian economy helps in resolving the crisis of Syrian displaced persons in Lebanon, who need to return to contribute to the revitalization of their country's economy. He called on the United Nations to provide assistance to the displaced in their homeland and not in Lebanon, according to a presidential statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun agreed last Wednesday to form a joint committee to follow up on the conditions of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, and they affirmed their commitment to the principle of exclusive control of weapons by the Lebanese state.

The head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Ramez Damascusieh, spoke about the agreement to launch a process for the handover of weapons in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon according to a specific timeline.

Palestinian refugees live in camps that are managed security-wise by Palestinian factions, based on informal understandings dating back to the "Cairo Agreement" of 1969, and the Lebanese army or security forces do not enter the camps, while the army imposes strict measures around them.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a general license that provides immediate relief from the sanctions imposed on Syria, in line with President Donald Trump's decision to lift the sanctions that were imposed in 1979 and became more comprehensive with the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011.

The Treasury Department noted that its Office of Foreign Assets Control issued on Friday the Syrian General License No. 25, which provides immediate relief from the sanctions imposed on Syria. The department clarified that the license "allows transactions that are prohibited under the Syrian sanctions regulations, which practically means lifting the sanctions on Syria."