Syrian refugees have been victims of violence in recent hours in Lebanon after the kidnapping and assassination attributed to a “ gang of Syrian thieves » from a local official of the Christian party of the Lebanese Forces. The army deployed in risky regions to try to prevent excesses and seven Syrians were arrested.
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“ Civil war “, ” national disaster » « discord “. These words come back on everyone’s lips Lebanon in recent hours after the discovery of Pascal Sleiman’s body in a border region in Syria, says RFI’s correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh. Lebanese authorities have arrested seven Syrians. According to a judicial source, “ the confessions of the seven arrested Syrians agreed that the sole motive for the crime was theft » from his car.
Despite the call for calm launched by the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Béchara Raï, the night of Monday April 8 to Tuesday 9 was marked by violence against Syrian nationals. Videos showing men, identified as Syrian migrants, beaten by suspected supporters of the Lebanese Forces are circulating endlessly on social media. Cars belonging to Syrians have been vandalized. In the Christian localities of Mount Lebanon and elsewhere, frightened refugees and displaced people are confined to their homes, or have been asked not to move around.
Massive army deployment
Initially, after the kidnapping of Pascal Sleiman, Hezbollah was singled out, which led to an exacerbation of sectarian tensions. In a speech on Monday April 8, Shiite party leader Hassan Nasrallah accused the Lebanese Forces and other Christian groups “ to seek to plunge Lebanon into civil war “.
For fear of sectarian clashes, the Lebanese army has deployed massively between Christian and Shiite neighborhoods in Beirut and elsewhere.
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