BEIRUT (AP) — Palestinian factions started handing over some of the weapons held in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut to the Lebanese army on Thursday, an initial step in implementing a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps.
It was a modest first step. One pickup left the camp loaded with weapons packed in bags. The butts of machine guns could be seen protruding from some of the sacks, while others contained rocket-propelled grenades.
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Lebanese army soldiers stand next of a pickup loaded with weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Palestinian woman shouts slogans against the handling over of weapons by Palestinian factions to the Lebanese army at Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Palestinian gunmen from the National Security Forces, stand at the entrance of Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp where Palestinian factions handed over weapons to the Lebanese army, in Beirut, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Army soldiers stand next to a pickup carrying weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Army soldiers stand next to a pickup carrying weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Army soldiers stand next to a pickup carrying weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The removal of weapons from the camps was announced in May during a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Lebanon, during which he and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced that arms would be consolidated under the authority of the Lebanese government.
But not all Palestinian factions have agreed to abide by the decision.
Representatives of Hamas and the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Hamas sent a statement signed by “the Palestinian Factions in Lebanon” that called Thursday’s handover of weapons “an internal organizational matter within the Fatah movement” that “has no connection, near or far, to the issue of Palestinian weapons in the camps.”
It added, “Our weapons have always been and will always be linked to the right of return and the just Palestinian cause and will remain so as long as the occupation remains on Palestinian soil.”
The 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon aren’t under the control of Lebanese authorities, and rival groups have clashed inside the camps in recent years, inflicting casualties and affecting nearby areas. Palestinian groups have also periodically launched rockets across the border into Israel.
The step of removing weapons from the camps was seen as a precursor to the much more difficult step of disarming the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which last year fought a bruising war with Israel . The group has been under domestic and international pressure since then to give up its remaining arsenal, which it has so far refused to do.
Implementation of the plan for the Palestinian camps was delayed amid disagreements among and within the various Palestinian factions operating in Lebanon, which include Abbas’ Fatah movement, the rival Hamas group and a range of other Islamist and leftist groups, over the mechanism for handing over the weapons.
Ramez Dimashkieh, head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a government body that serves as an interlocutor between Palestinian refugees and officials, said in a statement that the handover of weapons Thursday at the Burj al-Barajneh camp south of Beirut “will be the first step, with further batches to be delivered in the coming weeks from Burj al-Barajneh camp and the rest of the camps,” the statement said.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesperson for Abbas, said in a statement that weapons were also handed over Thursday at al-Bass camp in southern Lebanon and would continue in other camps in implementation of the agreement between Abbas and the Lebanese government.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack congratulated the Lebanese government and Fatah “for their agreement on voluntary disarmament in Beirut camps.” In a post on X, he called it “a historic step toward unity and stability, showing true commitment to peace and cooperation.”
However, the extent to which the decision would actually be implemented remained unclear. Some officials with the Palestinian factions said only “illegal” weapons would be handed over, not those belonging to organized factions. They also said personal light weapons would not be included.
Badih al-Habet, a spokesperson for Fatah in Beirut, told reporters that Aoun had acknowledged that “personal weapons are part of Arab and national culture."
There are nearly 500,000 Palestinians registered with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, in Lebanon. However, the actual number in the country is believed to be around 200,000, as many have emigrated but remain on the organiztion's roster.
They are prohibited from working in many professions, have few legal protections and can’t own property.
Lebanese army soldiers stand next of a pickup loaded with weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Palestinian woman shouts slogans against the handling over of weapons by Palestinian factions to the Lebanese army at Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Palestinian gunmen from the National Security Forces, stand at the entrance of Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp where Palestinian factions handed over weapons to the Lebanese army, in Beirut, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Army soldiers stand next to a pickup carrying weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Army soldiers stand next to a pickup carrying weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Army soldiers stand next to a pickup carrying weapons handed over by Palestinian factions at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in an initial step to implement a plan officials announced three months earlier for removing arms from the camps. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of more than a dozen people it said were wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said, adding that she hopes no one invades her country. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
