Lebanese Forces (LF) supporters blocking a highway in Jbeil the day after Pascal Sleiman's death, April 8, 2024. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
The General Secretariat of Catholic Schools in Lebanon announced on Thursday evening the closure of all schools this Friday, "a day of prayer for the salvation of Lebanon," six days after the murder of Pascal Sleiman, head of the Lebanese Forces (LF) office in the Jbeil caza. A funeral mass will be celebrated in honor of the deceased today at 1 p.m. at Saint-Georges church in Jbeil, by Maronite patriarch Bechara al-Rai.
Friday had been declared a public holiday by caretaking Prime Minister Najib Mikati to mark Eid al-Fitr, the end of the month of Ramadan.
The Catholic schools' statement, relayed by several local media, "strongly condemns the murder operations and the violation of human dignity of any kind" as well as "the prevailing security disorder" in Lebanon, which has been going through a period of tension since this event.
Two days after Sleiman's disappearance, the Lebanese army said that the man had been killed by a Syrian carjacking mafia. This version is disputed by the LF, who consider it "a political assassination until proven otherwise." Some supporters of Samir Geagea's party directed their anger at Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, committing several acts of aggression and violence against them.
In their text, the Catholic schools also call on the Lebanese state to "assume its responsibilities" so that they "can continue their educational mission" throughout the country.
In addition, a number of parliamentary groups met on Thursday evening, including the opposition, Renewal, Kataeb and LF blocs. A communiqué was issued at the end of the meeting: "On the occasion of Pascal Sleiman's funeral tomorrow at the Church of Saint-Georges in Jbeil, the Lebanese opposition MPs call for Friday, April 12, to be declared a day of national mourning, as a sign of solidarity with Pascal Sleiman's family and for the salvation of his soul."
The text also calls for "the solidarity of all Lebanese with the State and its sovereignty, in the face of the anarchy of arms, the security disorder and the proliferation of illegal weapons from which Lebanon suffers."
After the tension aroused in the country by this murder, several political figures called for calm. The LF party itself condemned "the barbaric acts to which some Syrians are exposed," while once again calling for the return of Syrian refugees to their country of origin.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.