Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas at the Baabda presidential palace, east of the capital Beirut, on May 21, 2025. AFP
A joint statement released by the Lebanese presidency said the two leaders share the "belief that the era of weapons outside Lebanese state control has ended", adding that both had expressed commitment to the principle that arms should be exclusively "in the hands of the Lebanese state".
Abbas was in Beirut on Wednesday for talks that includes the disarmament of Palestinian refugee camps as Lebanon seeks to impose its authority on all its territory.
It is Abbas's first visit since 2017 to Lebanon, which hosts hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, 222,000 of them in overcrowded camps beyond the control of the Lebanese authorities.
A joint statement read by the Lebanese presidency's spokeswoman, Najat Sharafeddine, said that both sides have agreed that weapons should only be with the Lebanese state, and the existence of “weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended.”
The statement said that both sides have agreed that Palestinian camps in Lebanon aren't “safe havens for extremist groups.” It added that “the Palestinian side confirms its commitment to not using Lebanese territories to launch any military operations.”
"The issue of Palestinian weapons in the camps will be one of the topics on the agenda for discussion between president Abbas, the Lebanese president and the Lebanese government," said Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee accompanying Abbas.
A Lebanese government source, who requested anonymity because they were not allowed to brief the media, said Abbas's visit aims to establish a mechanism for removing weapons from the camps.
By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps -- where Abbas's Fatah movement, Hamas and other armed groups are present -- and leaves the factions to handle security.
In an interview with Egyptian channel ON TV on Sunday, Aoun said "the monopoly of weapons should be in the hands of the state".
The Lebanese army has dismantled six Palestinian military training camps, Aoun said, "three in the Bekaa, one south of Beirut and two in the north", and "seized the weapons and destroyed all the facilities".
Majdalani said Abbas's visit came as Lebanon entered "a new era" in which it is receiving "Arab and American support".
"What matters to us in this new regional context is that we do not become part of Lebanon's internal conflicts, and that the Palestinian cause is not exploited to serve any party," he added.
The head of Hamas's national relations department in Lebanon, Ali Barakeh, said he hoped Abbas's talks with the Lebanese government would "take a comprehensive approach that does not only focus on the issue of weapons or the security aspect".
"We affirm our respect for Lebanon's sovereignty, security and stability, and at the same time we demand the provision of civil and human rights for our Palestinian people in Lebanon," he said.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, 500,000 Palestinians are registered as refugees in Lebanon, most of them descendants of those who fled or were expelled from their land, by Zionist mobs during the Nakba and the creation of Israel in 1948.
Due to their refugee status, most are unable to work legally in Lebanon, an issue Majdalani said Abbas also addressed during the meeting.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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