LBCI received a video showing the last
episode of Arsal incident, in which Arsal's Mayor Ali al-Houjayri and his
deputy were transporting the injured army troops from the municipal building to
the ambulance.
LAF troops were ambushed
Friday February 1st, 2013, while trying to detain fugitive, Khaled Hmeid,
suspected of involvement in the 2011 kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists who
were abducted in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and held for nearly four months
before being released in July that year.
Some security officials
have said that Hmeid crossed the border into Syria over the past months to
fight with rebels trying to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad. Many in
Arsal, a Sunni Muslim town, are sympathetic to Syrian rebels
This as fears of a
Syrian spillover are mounting in Lebanon.
Khaled Hmeid was injured
in the raid and subsequently succumbed to his wounds. Shortly after his capture
around 80 gunmen adamant on avenging Hmeid's capture followed the LAF troops
who reportedly were stuck on the road leading out of the town due to the
accumulation of snow. The gunmen attacked the troops leaving Major Pierre
Bachaalany and Adjutant Ibrahim Zahraman for dead. The two were then taken
alongside the remaining injured troops to the towns municipality and paraded in
a show of celebration.
LBCI showed photographs Sunday of uniformed soldiers being held in the municipality
building in Arsal. Some of the soldiers had bruises, and others were bloody.
Some residents in Arsal have said that the troops who were ambushed were in
civilian clothes and using civilian cars. They said they believed they were
pro-government Syrian militiamen who crossed the border from Syria to capture
Hmeid.
The death of the two
soldiers have stirred the emotions of Lebanese Army supporters leading many to
cut off roads and burn tires as a reaction to the crime.
To watch the full
video, please click on the image above