(Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Monday evening, the lifeless body of the owner of a gas station in Mazraat Yashouh, located on the road between Antelias and Bikfaya in Metn, was found tied up and thrown inside the station's toilets, reported the state-run National News Agency (NNA). The body showed signs of torture.
Security service agents immediately arrived at the scene and began investigations to determine the circumstances of the crime.
The victim, E.H., born in 1963, was from Beit Shabab (Metn). A security source told L’Orient-Le Jour that the crime took place at around 2:30 p.m. on Monday. The police did not arrive until shortly before 10 p.m. They were alerted by residents who noticed that the gas station was closed in broad daylight, which was unusual, and by family members who had been calling the owner, but in vain.
Upon their arrival at the scene, law enforcement officers broke into his office and found his lifeless body in the adjoining toilet. His hands and feet were tied, his mouth taped up and his head covered with a plastic bag.
According to initial information shared by the same source, four gas station employees, Syrian nationals, were involved in the crime. A video taken by a camera installed in the office and posted on social media showed three of them beating the victim, who tried to resist. The fourth stayed outside to head off any suspicion, the source said. It added that the four alleged murderers then fled, without specifying whether they had left the country and entered Syria.
Money, the probable motive
After preliminary investigations, the case was transferred to the Internal Security Forces’ intelligence service for further investigation to determine whether the motive for the crime was theft. According to a resident, the victim was tortured to be forced to tell where he kept his money. According to the same security source, no money was found at the scene, which reinforced the hypothesis that theft was the motive for the crime.
While various parties in Lebanon have been calling for the repatriation of Syrian displaced, especially now that the Assad regime had fallen Dec. 8, 2024, the crime shook the region and provoked reactions from political and administrative officials.
Ibrahim Kanaan, MP for Metn, wrote on X that Monday’s murder was “one of many crimes committed in recent years.”
“Isn’t it time for the return of Syrian refugees to be a priority for the cabinet?” he asked. The MP also called for “strict and swift punitive measures.”
“The UNHCR must immediately halt its aid to Syrian refugees,” he said, otherwise “we will never return to their country.”
The return of displaced Syrians was discussed by Syria’s new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during the latter’s visit to Damascus on Jan. 11, 2025.
This article was originally published in French in L’Orient-Le Jour. It was translated by Joelle El-Khoury.
