"Palestinian arms inside or outside the camps are part of our resistance against the Zionist enemy," said Fatah al-Intifada chief Said Mussa, who is also known as "Abu Mussa."

"The presence of these arms in southern Lebanon does not affect Lebanese security," the state-run National News Agency quoted him as saying during a visit to Lebanon.

"But we are ready to talk to Lebanese officials about the positioning of our arms," he added.

Lebanese newspapers on Monday reported that Abu Mussa had openly refused the disarmament of Palestinian militias in Lebanon.

"We reject the disarmament of Palestinians outside refugee camps in Lebanon.

"Our arms outside the camps serve the purpose of resisting Israel, in case it attacks southern Lebanon again," Abu Mussa said, in reference to a 2006 war between Israel and Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

"This is solely a Palestinian decision and not in the hands of any other power," he added.

Abu Mussa, who is based in Syria, made the statements less than a month after Prime Minister Saad Hariri's landmark visit to Syria, after which Hariri said he and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had discussed the arms of Palestinian groups outside camps in Lebanon.

Ramez Mustafa of the Syria-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) reiterated to AFP the view that Palestinian arms outside camps in Lebanon were indispensable to the fight against Israel.

Mustafa said both Hariri and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman had discussed the arms during their respective Damascus visits "but no Lebanese officials contacted us."

"The presence of Palestinian arms is part of the resistance against Israeli threats," said Mustafa, the PFLP-GC's Lebanon representative.

"The arms are not to be used in Lebanese affairs," he added, saying the groups were willing to discuss the issue with Lebanese leaders face to face.

Fatah al-Intifada and the PFLP-GC, led by Ahmad Jibril, were founded with Syrian backing during the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war and both have bases in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.

The PFLP-GC also has a base in Nehmeh, south of the capital Beirut.

In 2006, feuding Lebanese leaders agreed on the disarmament of Palestinians outside camps at a national dialogue session.

UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004, calls on Lebanon to assert sovereignty on the whole of its territory and disarm all militias, including armed Palestinian factions.

By long-standing convention, however, the Lebanese army does not enter Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps, leaving security inside in the hands of Palestinians.

Along with armed Lebanese factions, Palestinian guerrilla groups played a major part in Lebanon's civil war.

Palestinian factions and Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah were the only parties which did not give up their weapons after the war, saying they were needed to defend themselves against Israel.

But unlike most Palestinian factions in Lebanon, which are located inside the camps and remain loyal to Gaza or the West Bank, the PFLP-GC and Fatah al-Intifada continue to be backed by Syria.

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