Lebanon said on Thursday it was launching the planned disarmament of Palestinian factions in refugee camps, part of a wider effort to establish a state monopoly on arms.

The Lebanese Army has collected light weapons from a Palestinian refugee camp for the first time as part of a disarmament campaign, the NNA state news agency reported on Thursday. A truck left Bourj el-Barajneh in the early evening with covered weapons,

Some armed Palestinian groups in Lebanese refugee camps began handing over their weapons to the authorities on Thursday after reaching a deal earlier this year, with Washington hailing the move as a "historic step".