General Security announces arrest of suspect who fled to Syria after Mais al-Jabal murder

General Security's press office announced Monday the arrest of a Syrian suspect in the July 21 murder of a resident of Wazzani, a southern village near the border with Israel.

The body of the victim, Lebanese national Ahmad Moustapha Shehab, was found in Mais al-Jabal, on a road near the government hospital. The main suspect, a Syrian born in 1998, had been on the run, but was brought back to Lebanon from Syria and arrested Sunday in the village of Qaa in the Bekaa, according to the statement. He confessed to killing Shehab "to take revenge" in a personal matter before fleeing.

The victim worked in buying and collecting scrap and metals in the area, and his body showed signs of stab wounds. According to preliminary information, the suspect worked with the victim and was seen with him on Sunday in a pickup truck in the streets of Mais al-Jabal, before disappearing. The army and intelligence services continued to search for him. After the crime, the municipality of Mais al-Jabal announced "measures" against Syrians residing and working illegally in the locality and denounced "the state's inability to protect its population."