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.

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.

Palestinian factions in Lebanon began handing over weapons in refugee camps on Thursday as part of a government plan to bring arms under state control, Lebanese authorities said. In a statement, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s office said the first batch of weapons in the Burj al-Barajneh camp, Beirut will be delivered to the Lebanese army.