Arsal Militants Ambush LA: Captain, Soldier Martyred

Local Editor

The Lebanese Army issued a communiqué on Friday announcing the martyrdom of a Captain and a soldier who fell to an armed ambush during a patrol in Arasal, in search for individuals wanted for justice.

The armed clash which erupted between the Lebanese Army and a terrorists group also left a number of soldiers injured, not to mention the grave damage of military equipment and apparatuses.
In the wake of the ambush, a huge LA force headed to the battle region, and imposed a tight security cordon around the area, then launched wide raid operations in search for the individuals responsible for shooting at the LA.
"The Lebanese Army Command requests from all the residents of Arsal to fully cooperate with the measures to arrest the culprits," the LA statement read.
It further warned that it will "not be lenient with any attempt to allow passage or harbor gunmen."
The army identified the deceased soldiers as 29-year-old Captain Pierre Bashalany and 30-year-old Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman.
According to as-Safir Lebanese daily, "an Intelligence patrol, belonging to the LA, arrested the suspect Khalid Hameed alive."

Moreover, well informed security sources told the daily that "during the departure of the patrol along with the suspect from Arsal, a large number of armed militants attacked it."
"This led to the killing of Hameed and the martyrdom of the LA captain and soldier by the same source of fire," they mentioned, and noted that "the gunmen seized the bodies of the martyrs, and the two vehicles for the army."

The sources also revealed that "the militants carried the martyrs' bodies and cars to Arsal's municipality in a ceremony during which some militants raised blatantly victory signs."

For his part, Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn considered the Arsal attack on an army patrol "a violation of national security and an attempt to undermine the integrity of the state".
"Any attack on the Lebanese army is an attack on the entire nation and we will not tolerate this," Ghosn said in his statement.
In parallel, he reiterated that the military "will not be lenient with the perpetrators and they will be arrested and penalized".
"No Lebanese region will be outside the army's control," he vowed, and urged the residents of the Bekaa region to refrain from allowing the passage of gunmen to Lebanon.

"The army is the only guarantee to all Lebanese people regardless of their religious affiliation," the minister added.


Source: Agencies/ Dailies, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org