Judge Saqr charges 34 people involved in Arsal incident

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Monday 34 people, including two detainees, for involvement in the Arsal incident, summoning the town’s mayor Ali al-Hjairi to interrogate him as a witness.                   

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.               

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.                  

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.       

The Lebanese Army has since imposed strict measures around the Bekaa town, leading to the discontent of some MPs and locals who insist that the measures are baseless and unwarranted.