The Lebanese army battalion at the summit of Qornet al-Sawda. (Credit: NNA)
The commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Army, General Joseph Aoun, inspected the troops of the regiment stationed at Qornet al-Sawda, Lebanon’s highest peak, this Friday and emphasized the importance of the army's presence in the region.
Located on the border between the Christian town of Bsharri and the Sunni town of Bkaasafrine in the Dinnieh district, this area contains water sources that have been the subject of recurring disputes between the two villages, both claiming authority over this strategic point, which has since been turned into a military training ground to prevent violence.
Two deaths in July 2023
"Your presence is of great importance to maintain security and stability in the region, prevent conflicts, and avoid casualties, especially due to land disputes in the area," General Aoun said to the soldiers. "You carry out continuous missions in difficult and rugged conditions, but nothing is impossible given your determination because you believe in the sanctity of your mission," he added.
Expressing his "pride" in the deployment of the armed forces "in all regions, at the border or within the country," the commander-in-chief declared that "any threat to civil peace is prohibited."
"The difficult conditions we are experiencing today require even more patience and sacrifice to preserve the institution [the military] and the nation," he added.
Last summer, in early July 2023, an incident that led to the death of two residents of Bsharri, who were shot, reignited communal tensions between Christians and Shiites. Some officials close to the Lebanese Forces (LF) accused Hezbollah of deliberately arming residents of the Sunni village of Bkaasafrine to sow discord and expand its influence amid the Shiite-Christian struggle for the presidential election, which remains deadlocked nearly two years after Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022. Hezbollah denied any involvement.
Authorities launched an investigation to clarify the incident involving army members. Some of them, injured in shootouts with residents of Bsharri who sought to avenge the first victim, Haitham Tawk, are also suspected of being responsible for the death of the second victim, his brother Malek Tawk.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai called in a speech for the "demarcation of borders in the Qornet al-Sawda area and an end to the discord, as well as the identification and punishment of those responsible for the killings of Haitham and Malek Tawk." Since then, no official authority has released any information on the results of this investigation.