A Lebanese army post inside the ancient site of Baalback. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
Clashes erupted again in the town of Kfar Dabash, west of Baalbeck, on Friday, following violent incidents on Thursday that resulted in two fatalities and left a third person critically injured. The injured individual later died from their injuries, raising the death toll to three, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region reported.
The conflict originated from a dispute over filling water tanks from an artesian well. The death of the injured person sparked outrage among members of one family, who targeted the mourning gathering of another family in the town, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
During the attack, gunfire was opened, injuring a Lebanese woman born in 1988, who was shot in the neck and transferred to Dar al-Amal Hospital for treatment.
Security forces from the Shmestar (Bekaa) station reopened their investigation into the incident, which had initially recorded two deaths and one injury before the renewed clashes escalated the toll to three dead and one injured.
Synonymous with national mismanagement, Lebanon's water sector was the subject of a chapter in the 8th Arab Watch Report of the Arab Network of NGOs for Development, discussed Monday during a consultation at the American University of Beirut (AUB) co-organized by ANND and the AUB Nature Conservation Center.
Among the challenges faced in Lebanon in managing this sector, according to the report's lead researcher, Roland Riashi, interviewed this week by L'Orient Today: challenges related to climate change, notably the decrease in rainfall, problems related to overexploitation – pumping from greater depths and the decline in water levels, particularly in aquifers, are increasingly common – the major problem of pollution, and finally inequality in access to water resources.
Reporting contributed by Sara Abdallah
