BEIRUT — A stray bullet hit and killed a teenager on Sunday in the town of Hosh al-Sayed Ali in the Bekaa, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the region.
The 14-year-old boy, Fadi Khaled Al-Jdouaa, was reportedly hit while he was transporting belongings to his home, and was taken to al-Assi Hospital for treatment where he died a short time later.
His body was transferred to Hermel Governmental Hospital, and his family is waiting for the judicial authorities' signal to receive his body, our correspondent reported.
Last Saturday, a teenage soccer player, Veh Christ Harboyan, was injured by a stray bullet in a stadium in Bir Hassan, a neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Beirut Football Academy (BFA), of which the player is a member, said in a statement issued at the time that Harboyan was "under surveillance in hospital" and described his condition as "stable." According to a security source, the bulley that hit Harboyan was reportedly fired during a funeral.
Shooting in the air, to mark various social events, is commonplace in Lebanon. In August 2020, a bullet, presumed to have been fired during the funeral of one of the victims of the deadly Aug. 4 explosion at the port of Beirut, hit Lebanese footballer Mohammad Atwe, who died a month later.
In late 2022, caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi issued a circular calling on the security forces and regional authorities in Beirut and Mount Lebanon to take "firm and repressive measures" to prevent celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve. In November, a plane belonging to the national carrier Middle East Airlines was hit by a stray bullet, which pierced its fuselage after it landed at the Beirut international airport.
Every year, an array of incidents involving stray bullets is recorded in Lebanon, where arms possession is poorly regulated.
Additional reporting by Sarah Abdallah