Koura MP Adib Abdel Massih. (Credit: Photo from his Facebook account)
Two Lebanese men beat up a young Syrian man on Saturday morning in Kfar Saroun, Koura. A video of the assault, which lasts almost three minutes, was published by local media outlets and on social networks. A man is seen holding the victim, while another beats him. One of the assailants uses a stick, a gun and then his own hands to beat the young man.
One of the men is a State Security agent and provides close protection for Koura MP Adib Abdel Massih, who confirmed the incident to L'Orient-Le Jour by telephone. The MP added that the second assailant is a "friend" of his bodyguard. According to the local media, the Syrian national is a 17-year-old minor.
'He shouldn't have behaved like that'
Abdel Massih confirmed that it is indeed his bodyguard who can be seen in the video of the beating.
"The incident took place in a shop in Koura," Abdel Massih said. The elected representative shared his version of events: "I learned that the security guard's wife was waiting in her car with tinted windows for her son, who was taking a private lesson. The Syrian was circling the vehicle suspiciously. Apparently, he thought no one was in the vehicle. The frightened woman immediately got out of the car and shouted at him, then called her husband. Unfortunately, he acted without thinking and let off steam. He shouldn't have behaved like that."
According to the MP, the bodyguard turned himself in to State Security and is currently in custody. When contacted, State Security said no one was was immediately available to give information on the matter.
Following the attack, the victim was admitted to Koura Hospital, a medical source who treated the young man confirmed, saying he is aged "17-18." The victim left the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
In a video posted on the X account of the Lebanese media outlet lebanos, the victim, still hospitalized at the time, tells his version of events to a journalist. He says he was walking down the street when his hand touched the car of the security guard's wife. "The lady said to me: 'What's your problem?' And she accused me of trying to rip something off her car," he continues. "I then went into a shop, and after 20 or 45 minutes, they came after me and hit me. One of them used a piece of wood [...] which broke on my head," he adds. He also says that one of the men pointed a pistol at him and then hit him with the weapon. According to him, the two assailants left the scene once their boss arrived. "If he hadn't come, I would have been beaten to death," he says.
A source at the hospital told L'Orient-Le Jour that the victim had "no fractures" but had "bruises all over his body: on his head, back, neck, eye, elbow...."
"He was crying and terrified," she continued.
L'Orient-Le Jour was able to access the victim's medical report, which confirmed that, on examination, the victim had no fractures but said that points of inflammation had been diagnosed.
"He was found to be suffering from pain in his shoulder, elbow and eye bone," the report also notes, adding that he was prescribed painkillers.
The affair immediately took on a political dimension. In a press release, the Syrian National Social Party (SNSP) condemned the incident as an "odious racist" attack and a "flagrant challenge to the authority of the state." It called on "the justice and security services to act swiftly to arrest and punish the aggressors and their sponsors, whose names are known, so that they may serve as an example to all those who have the audacity to join an evil group that violates laws and poses a threat to national security and stability."
Abdel Massih, meanwhile, denounced "political instrumentalization."
"I'm currently traveling, so my bodyguards are on leave. Some people are trying to politicize this affair, even though it's an isolated case. This has nothing to do with politics or communitarianism," he said.
The MP's office also reacted on Saturday via its X account: "Mr. Abdel Massih would like to make it clear that this was an off-duty brawl, personal and unrelated to him. He rejects the logic of violence against any person, whether Lebanese or foreign, and leaves it to the relevant bodies and the justice system to investigate and deal with the case. We categorically reject the politicization of this individual case and ask the media to be precise and cautious in their information."
The office added that the northern politician had sent his chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Joseph Yacoub, "to visit the injured man in hospital to check on his state of health and provide any assistance he may require."
The attack took place at a time when Syrian migrants and refugees are facing the resurgence of a political campaign calling for their departure, to which has been added multiple acts of violence against the Syrian community since the murder in early April of Pascal Sleiman, a Lebanese Forces official, for which Syrian suspects were arrested.
