News / Palestine / Lebanon

Explosion kills five at Palestinian base in Lebanon: Lebanese security source

Wednesday, 31 May 2023 1:50 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 31 May 2023 2:18 PM ]

Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) stand guard during a parade marking the annual al-Quds Day, at Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 14, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

Five members of a Palestinian resistance group have been killed in an accidental blast overnight at a base near Lebanon’s border with Syria, according to a Lebanese security source.

"An old rocket exploded in an arms depot on the base and five fighters were killed," the security source told AFP, referring to the blast that killed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command.

However, a spokesman for the PFLP-GC has blamed Israel for the explosion, saying the Tel Aviv regime carried out overnight raids at the base in Qusaya.

Anwar Raja told AFP that five fighters were killed and 10 wounded, adding that "for now we do not have more detailed information on the operation."

An Israeli source, however, denied any involvement in the deadly blast.

Back in August 2019, suspected Israeli strikes targeted the PFLP-GC in Qusaya.

In July 2015, a security official also reported a blast at the PFLP-GC base in Qusaya, saying seven people were wounded, while the Palestinian group blamed it on an Israeli strike.

The PFLP-GC was founded in 1968 after splitting from the similarly named Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It has close ties to Lebanon's Hezbollah group as well as the Syrian government and has bases in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley as well as in al-Naameh, just south of Beirut.

Its founder, Ahmed Jibril, was based in Damascus until he died in 2021.

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