Lebanese soldiers deployed at the site of an Israeli strike against a building in the Mar Takla neighborhood, in Hazmieh, in the eastern suburbs of Beirut, on March 23, 2026. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army said Tuesday that it had arrested a man suspected of fatally shooting the mayor of Deir Mimas, in the Marjayoun district, and wounding the village mukhtar on Monday.
According to a statement issued by the army's Directorate of Orientation, the suspect, identified only by his initials as F.B., opened fire on Deir Mimas's head of municipality Suhail Abu Jomra on Monday, killing him at the scene and injuring the village mukhtar.
The town's former mukhtar Ibrahim Beshara told L'Orient Today on Tuesday that the matter is now "being handled by the relevant authorities and nothing further could be said at the moment."
"The mukhtar is currently in the intensive care unit at Rizk Hospital in Beirut and he will undergo surgery," Beshara added.
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon, the shooter is a member of the Internal Security Forces. A source at the ISF told L'Orient Today that the shooter was "allegedly drunk and shooting haphazardly. The head of the municipality and the mukhtar reportedly went to the scene in an attempt to calm him down but were shot and injured in the process."
The army said a military unit immediately intervened following the shooting and carried out a raid that resulted in the arrest of the alleged gunman. An investigation has been launched under the supervision of the competent judicial authorities, the statement added.
Reporting contributed by our southern correspondent Muntasser Abdallah
