Turk arrested in Lebanon suspected of shooting friend dead during cease-fire celebration

The Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced on Wednesday that they had arrested a suspect who allegedly shot and killed his friend during celebratory gunfire on the first day of the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, on Nov. 27, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Last Wednesday, a video that went viral showed individuals riding motorcycles, waving Hezbollah flags and firing into the air to celebrate the end of the fighting that began in October 2023 and intensified over the past two months. The footage then shows a young man falling from a motorcycle after being shot in the back. Another man, sitting behind him, appeared to be armed with a pistol.

According to police, Kh. A., a 24-year-old Palestinian man, “shot in the hip,” succumbed to his injuries shortly after being hospitalized. Investigations identified the man with him during the incident as a Turkish national, H.K., also aged 24. He reportedly surrendered to police the day after the incident.

During his interrogation, he claimed that the bullet that hit his friend came from "an unknown trajectory," and said that he had taken the victim to the hospital.

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Lebanon’s invisible killer: Stray bullets

"Faced with the evidence that showed that the victim had been hit by a bullet fired from behind, on the right, he ended up confessing that one of his shots had accidentally hit his friend," the ISF statement said. According to the text, the suspect also claimed to have "lost his weapon on the way to the hospital." The man was brought before the competent judicial authorities, the police concluded.

Heavy celebratory gunfire was reported across Lebanon as the cease-fire came into effect. Such practices are endemic to Lebanon. According to a report by the Beirut-based research center Information International, stray bullets fired at weddings, funerals, and, on the fringes, during individual altercations, killed 81 people and injured 169 others between 2010 and 2021 in Lebanon. In 2023, 7 people were killed by stray bullets, according to a count by our publication.

Adopted in 2016, Law No. 71 punishes anyone who fires a firearm into the air with a prison sentence of six months to three years, in addition to a fine equivalent to eight to ten times the official minimum wage and a lifetime ban on owning such a weapon. If the shot is fatal, the sentence is commuted to forced labor for a period of 10 to 15 years.

This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.