Lebanese army soldiers unload boxes from a truck that overturned in the town of Kahaleh, where two people were killed in clashes between members Hezbollah and residents of the Christian town on Aug. 9, 2023. (Credit: AFP)
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At least two people, including a Hezbollah member, were killed yesterday evening in a shootout in Kahaleh, Aley, following the overturning of a Hezbollah-owned truck. Videos circulating on social media show unidentified armed men in civilian clothes opening fire in the direction of the crowd gathered near the beleaguered truck. The incident took place in front of a Kataeb party office in Kahaleh. As of last night, the nature of the truck's cargo remained unclear. Hezbollah claimed that one of its members died while he and others were trying to tow the overturned truck after being shot at by “militia elements” allegedly attempting “to take control” of the truck. The second victim is reported to be a local resident in his 60s. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said “the army is continuing its efforts to prevent the situation from degenerating” while tensions remained high in the area. Local media reported that Kahaleh residents refused to reopen the road where the incident occurred.
A hearing is scheduled for today with a member of security forces who allegedly colluded with Lynn Taleb’s family to cover up the 5-year-old’s death after her sexual assault earlier this summer, a judicial source told L’Orient Today. A forensic report cited by the judicial source claimed that Taleb was already dead when she was transferred to the hospital on June 29. A medical report seen by L’Orient Today claimed that the young girl died from an infection she developed after she was raped. Arrest warrants were initially issued for the child's mother and maternal grandfather, Fawaz Bou Khalil. Authorities later arrested Lynn's maternal grandmother and uncle. The uncle is charged with rape and intentional crime, while the other family members are accused of concealing information, as well as voluntary manslaughter for delaying the child's hospitalization before her death.
The military court charged 11 of the 13 detainees held in relation to the shooting of two men in Qornet al-Sawda, a judicial military court source told L’Orient Today. The same source confirmed that government commissioner Fadi Akiki initiated legal proceedings against more than 20 people, including 13 who were arrested after the shooting. On July 1, 2023, two men from Bsharri died in an exchange of gunfire with residents of Bkaasafrine and the Lebanese Army, which had intervened to try to de-escalate the situation.
Surveillance camera footage reportedly shows the kidnapping of former Lebanese Forces coordinator Elias al-Hasrouni, who was thought to have died in a car accident last month, party leader Samir Geagea claimed in a Tuesday statement. Imad Allous, the president of the Ain Ibl municipality in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, where the kidnapping allegedly occurred, told L’Orient Today that the Internal Security Forces have “conclusive evidence of the kidnapping.” Allous referenced footage reportedly showing Hasrouni’s car being intercepted by “unknown persons in two cars,” one of whom commandeered the victim’s car and “headed with the two other cars towards an unknown destination.”
The Foreign Affairs Ministry is scheduled to receive, within the next three months, “complete personal information” on Syrian refugees in Lebanon benefitting from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assistance, a Lebanese diplomatic source told L’Orient Today. UNHCR announced that the data sharing agreement announced yesterday by caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib is in “accordance with global data protection standards.” The diplomatic source said the data will be used to check whether any UNHCR beneficiaries crossed the border to Syria, which would exclude them from refugee status. The Lebanese government renewed its calls for UNHCR data over the past months amid increasingly aggressive policing of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and a rise in deportations.
The Lebanese Army announced the arrest of dozens of alleged human smugglers in northern Lebanon. They are suspected of organizing illegal entry into Lebanon and irregular sea crossings from Lebanese coasts towards Europe. The army said it arrested nine people for organizing illegal entry from Syria to Lebanon and 60 people with Syrian nationality for illegal entry into Lebanon. A second series of arrests “in the towns of Bebnin, al-Mina, Deir Ammar, Salhat and al-Minia”' targeted “15 Lebanese and 31 Syrians,” who were allegedly organizing an irregular sea crossing. The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) recently reported that irregular migration attempts departing from Lebanon made up nearly half of the 378 deaths on the Eastern Mediterranean route in 2022. Irregular departures from Lebanon’s shores more than doubled for a second year in 2022 amid increasingly dire living circumstances in the country.
Officers from three separate police stations were unable to locate former Banque du Liban (BDL) governor Riad Salameh to notify him of his hearing yesterday, postponing the questioning to Aug. 29, a senior judicial source told L’Orient Today. The Beirut Indictment Chamber overturned a decision to release Salameh after his third consecutive week of hearings with Beirut’s first investigating judge. The appeal was filed by State Legal Department head Helene Iskandar, who filed a civil suit in Salameh’s case to protect the interests of the Lebanese State. In May, Salameh skipped a hearing in Paris, during which the French judiciary intended to charge, him after Lebanese security forces repeatedly failed to summon him. Lebanon subsequently received an Interpol Red Notice for Salameh following a French international arrest warrant naming the former governor. Salameh is being investigated in Lebanon for allegedly embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from public funds and in at least five European jurisdictions where the funds were used to build an asset portfolio.
Caretaker Culture Minister Mohamad Mortada said he sent a memorandum to the General Security “to take all necessary measures to ban” Barbie from being screened in Lebanon. Mortada claimed that Barbie “encourages perversity and gender transformation while calling for the rejection of patriarchy and ridiculing the role of mothers.” A General Security source told L'Orient Today on Wednesday that the decision to ban Barbie is out of their hands. The movie’s Lebanese release date was initially pushed to Aug. 31, six weeks after its release in most other countries. The delay was linked to a decision by Warner Bros.’ distributors in Lebanon, Vox Cinemas Dubai, to space out the releases of “big films,” according to Carly Ramia, head of marketing at Selim Ramia & Co Sal (Grand Cinemas).
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Goodbye, big chain hotels. 2023 is the Summer of the Guesthouse”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
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