The home and car of a priest, Elie Mashaalani, were targeted by gunfire in Mreijat, in the Bekaa, reported the state-run National News Agency (NNA) on Sunday.

While Father Mashaalani, pastor of Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Karak, was returning home to Mreijat, he noticed someone following him and asked the reason. The individual in question then fled towards Shtoura, a nearby village. Once he was home, after parking his car, the priest was surprised by heavy gunfire in his direction. More than twenty bullets hit his car and house.

The Internal Security Forces (ISF) and forensic experts were immediately dispatched to the scene. An investigation has been opened to reconstruct the circumstances of the incident.

On Saturday, Armenian Archimandrite Anania Kojanian, 40, was found dead, presumably killed, at his home in the Bsalim region in Metn. He was in charge of the affairs of the Armenian Orthodox community in Zahle and Anjar, in the Bekaa.