A screenshot from a video showing a car dragging a tied up dog behind it in Anjar, Bekaa valley.
BEIRUT — A man has been arrested for tying a dog to the back of his car and dragging it for hundreds of meters, Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) said in a statement on Sunday.
A video that has been circulating on social media since Aug. 13 showed a white Mercedes dragging a dog that had been tied with a rope in the town of Rawda, Anjar, in the Bekaa Valley region.
The Zahle Judicial Detachment conducted an investigation, which led them to identify the perpetrator as M. Sh. Kh., a 55-year-old Syrian national, according to the statement from the ISF's General Directorate of Internal Security Forces - Public Relations Division.
The man was subsequently brought in for questioning at the detachment center, based on the instructions of the competent judiciary.
Dog dragged for 500 meters
During the interrogation, M. Sh. Kh. confessed to tying the dog and dragging it for a distance of "approximately 500 meters." He claimed that he had done so because "the dog had attacked and scared his children."
The statement further noted that the car used in the incident has been seized, and M. Sh. Kh. has been arrested and referred to the judiciary for appropriate legal action.
This act of animal cruelty has sparked outrage and condemnation on social media platforms.
On Aug. 13, animal rights activist Ghina Nahfawi lamented in a post on X attached to a video of the offense, saying, "Crimes continue in a country where many of its people have lost all meanings of mercy and human dignity, whether against humans, animals or nature."
"You are dragging him, you criminals, in hot weather and on hot asphalt!! What kind of devils are you???!!!!" she added.
This incident comes amidst a litany of examples of mistreatment of dogs in Lebanon, with multiple videos circulating on social media of similar violent acts.
The poisoning of stray dogs is also a common offense in Lebanon. Last year, unknown persons poisoned tens of dogs in Aley, resulting in several deaths. Residents had discovered caches of poisoned chicken bones deliberately placed where locals distribute food to the city’s stray dogs.