From car accident to abduction: The latest on Elias Hasrounis case

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In a location beneath the road between Ain Ebel and Haneen, which is not frequently used by vehicles, the lifeless body of the Lebanese Forces official Elias Hasrouni was found a week ago beside his jeep, which had collided with an olive tree.

The airbag in the car was deployed, and there were no injuries except for a rib fracture in the chest.

At first, the family assumed it was a car accident. But, suspicions remained about the possibility of Hasrouni being a victim of murder.

Security cameras in Ain Ebel were reviewed, and the case shifted from a car accident to an organized and professional abduction and killing, as video footage from a house camera in the town showed that two jeeps obstructed and intercepted Hasrouni's car last Wednesday evening. Some of the abductors, accompanied by the jeeps, got into his vehicle before his lifeless body was later found.

LBCI retraced Elias Hasrouni's path on Wednesday evening

He was spending time at a restaurant near the church in Ain Ebel with some young people from the town. Around 9 p.m., he left and drove towards his home.

However, he was intercepted and kidnapped hundreds of meters from his house. A camera on top of one of the houses captured the video that attributed the abduction and killing of Hasrouni.

The kidnappers drove Hasrouni's car towards a road, passing his tourist resort and his house. They took a desolate path, aiming to create the impression that his death resulted from a car accident due to losing control of the vehicle.

His car was thrown after a slope, landing in a ravine beneath the road, with his body beside it.

The Lebanese Forces official, aged seventy, retired from Electricité du Liban years ago and owned a restaurant and a tourist resort in Ain Ebel. He was a former coordinator for the Lebanese Forces in the same town.

Additionally, he was imprisoned after the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 due to his previous affiliation with the "Lahad Army," and he was summoned for investigation again in 2007.

However, the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces is currently investigating the case, refraining from anticipating the crime's motives or perpetrators before the investigation's conclusion.