Lebanese police in front of a detention center in Beirut, on Aug. 7, 2022. (Illustration photo/Anwar Amro/AFP)
A man allegedly killed his wife on Thursday before taking his own life in the Bekaa village of Yohmor, security sources quoted by L'Orient Today's local correspondent and the National News agency reported.
The reasons behind this incident remain unclear, pending the outcome of investigations by the relevant authorities.
A man identified as M.M. reportedly killed his wife, M.A., and then took his own life using a hunting rifle.
The family consisted of the husband, wife, three sons, and one daughter.
Security forces, forensic investigators, and the medical examiner arrived at the scene, and investigations commenced.
The mayor of the village Mohamad Ali Abbas told L'Orient Today that he like the residents of the village was surprised that this family would experience such a crime. "All we know about this family is that they are really good people. I don't understand how it would come out to this," he said.
Various humanitarian organizations have warned of an uptick in femicides in Lebanon over the past few years, as the population suffers under the stresses of a multifaceted crisis. According to a mid-year 2023 report from the UNHCR's Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Information Management System (IMS) Task Force Lebanon, in 63 percent of all reported cases women were targeted by their partners in their own homes. The Syrian population is disproportionately affected by gender-based violence, constituting 86 percent of all cases reported in the first half of the year, according to the same report.
In 2021 and 2022, the ISF investigated the murders of 50 women.