Members of the Lebanese Army at a checkpoint in an undisclosed location in northern Lebanon, on March 20, 2024. (Credit: Lebanese Army Website)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army arrested 31 people in the North Lebanon on Wednesday on suspicion of having committed crimes related to shooting, owning weapons, and causing security issues, following what the army called multiple "incidents" in the region.
The army released a statement saying that "after the latest incidents which took place in the north," it had set up checkpoints and raided houses belonging to individuals suspected of having been involved in the violence.
The Lebanese Army also announced it arrested 10 people, nine of them Lebanese, for gun violence and causing security issues. It also arrested 12 people, 11 of them Lebanese, for carrying weapons without a license and being in possession of illegal drugs.
An investigation was opened with the supervision of the relevant judiciary, the army said.
On Monday, a dispute between two families in the Beddawi region of northern Lebanon degenerated into armed clashes. There was heavy gunfire and someone threw a grenade, causing a serious explosion.
Several gun fights also erupted in Akkar between members of feuding families. On March 14, a dispute between two families took place in Burj al-Arab, provoking gunfire. The next day, a man died in an armed confrontation and riot in Amara, in a dispute over the cutting down of a lemon tree.
Events of this kind are increasingly common in Lebanon, where the security situation has deteriorated significantly, exacerbated by a crippling economic crisis — spurred on by rampant corruption — that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty. Weapons circulate freely in certain regions, especially in the North, and their being readily available in times of tension and anger greatly increases the likelihood of a confrontation becoming deadly.