Qahwaji denies reports stating use of sharp weapons to disfigure soldiers' bodies

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman met on Tuesday with LAF Chief General Jean Qahwaji and discussed the Arsal incident.              

In this context, Qahwaji informed the president of the measures taken to restore security in the region and the pursuit of criminals involved in the attack against the army.              

However, Qahwaji stressed that Arsal is not besieged by the army, but instead LAF units are deployed in and around the town, mainly at the border with Syria, denying the reports stating the use of sharp weapons to disfigure the bodies of the soldiers who were killed in the ambush on February 1st.                

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.