Army kills man after knifing a soldier, Lebanese army says

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army shot and killed a man Saturday morning after he stabbed a soldier at a military outpost in Rifa, Tripoli, the army said in a statement.

Here’s what we know:

  • The man forced his way into the outpost holding a knife and a briefcase, the statement said. When a soldier guarding the outpost approached him, the man stabbed him multiple times, prompting a second soldier to open fire, killing the assailant. The wounded soldier was transferred to a nearby hospital and is in stable condition. An investigation into the incident has begun, with the briefcase being examined by an explosives expert.

  • A source close to the attacker told L’Orient Today’s Mary Jo Sader that the assailant’s children and sister were among those who went missing after a clandestine migration boat was sunk off the coast of Qalamoun when the army intercepted the vessel. At least six people died and thirty more disappeared as a result of the incident. Survivors and relatives of the dead and missing have blamed the army for their loss. The army has said that if it weren’t for its intervention, none of the would-be migrants would have survived.

  • With compound crises having plunged most Lebanese into poverty, security incidents have been on the rise in Lebanon, particularly in the North.