REPORT: Arsal’s mayor Ali Hjairi ambushed after exchange of kidnapped persons

Lebanese citizen Mohammad Hassan Hjairi, aka Doukhan, was killed on Sunday and each of Ahmad Khaled Hjairi, aka Qatshe, and Ali Fliti, aka Ali al-Zahwi, as well as the mayor of Arsal Ali Hjairi, were injured in an ambush in the Al-Labweh region following the exchange of detained citizen Youssef Mokdad with other detained persons from Arsal.                           

In this regard, sources told LBCI that following the exchange of Youssef Mokdad at the Intelligence Bureau in Ras Baalbek with 13 kidnapped persons from Arsal, the convoy of the Arsal delegation which was made up of 10 vehicles was ambushed by gunmen on the Al-Labweh, Nabi Othman road.
                                                                 
The sources added to LBCI that the armed group that carried out the ambush kidnapped the Syrian national Mohammad Abbas.                                                                    

Army Command:                           

Following the aforementioned incident, the Army Command-Guidance Directorate issued a statement in which it said that a convoy of the Arsal delegation was ambushed on the Baalbek-Hermel road by armed men, adding that 4 persons were injured and one of them succumbed to his wounds.                      

The Army Command added the armed men also kidnapped 2 Syrian nationals.                                      

The Command mentioned that Lebanese Armed Forces’ soldiers were deployed in various regions of Lebanon’s Bekaa, stressing that soldiers implemented tight security measures to contain the situation and launched search and investigation operations to identify perpetrators and refer them to judicial authorities.                       

Ali Hjairi:              

Arsal’s Mayor Ali Hjairi held the Al-Amhaz and Al-Jaafar families accountable for the aforementioned ambush, and called on security apparatuses to implement tight security measures to arrest offenders.        

Hjairi told LBCI that the person who was killed is not related to the AL-Nusra Front.            

Reactions:                              

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said that resorting to such methods at a time when the issue of releasing the kidnapped persons was witnessing progress complicates the matter.                                                   
For his part, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed on the importance of cooperation between the Bekaa residents in order to prevent strife after the al-Labweh incident.                         
In turn, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel briefed Prime Minister-Designate Tammam Salam on the details of the incident, and called on security forces to implement firm measures and pursue perpetrators.   


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