(i24 News) In a move that potentially represents a major turning point for Lebanon, the crisis-hit country will understake the disarmament of Palestinian refugee camps starting in June, based on an accord with visiting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a government body that serves as an interlocutor between Palestinian refugees and officials, reported the meeting with Abbas where the issues was discussed was attended by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and that “participants agreed to launch a process for the disarmament of weapons according to a specific timetable.”

Lebanon hosts 12 official Palestinian refugee camps—Beddawi, El Buss, Rashidieh, Mieh Mieh, Burj Barajneh, Burj Shemali, Shatila, Dbayeh, Ain al-Hilweh, Mar Elias, Wavel and Nahr el-Bared— all of which are overcrowded and regarded as terror hotbeds, where both Islamists and ostensibly secular groups maintain significant presence.

The development is understood to have been caused by the marginalization of Hezbollah within Lebanon, following a series of devastating military operations by Israel that left the Iran-backed jihadists militia dramatically weaked.

Since the ceasefire was declared last November, pro-Western and anti-Iranian factions have been striving to establish the Lebanese state’s exclusive monopoly on the legitimate use of force, bringing all armed groups under state control.

Part of this ambitious project is the campaign to expell members of Palestinian armed groups, many of which have been established in the refugee camps since the Lebanese Civil War that lasted from 1975 to 1990 and left a legacy of terror and instability.