Exploring the Black Qurna Incident: Conflicts, Sectarianism, and Resource Disputes in Lebanon

Ten days after the incident of the Black Qurna incident, the judiciary and the Lebanese army intelligence have an almost complete account of the killing of the two young men, Haitham and Malik Tawq. And while the country is full of dozens of “civilian” clashes annually, and there are casualties and deaths for regional, political, financial and personal reasons, and because of “boredom” at times, the incident turned into an engine to awaken sectarian instincts and fanaticism, and move imaginary lines of contact.

There is no doubt that the conflict over resources and disputes over the borders of villages will not stop at Qurna al-Souda. Rather, every region is almost drowned in its own small conflicts with the gradual dissolution of the role of the state and the decline of national immunity in front of partisanship and political investment. However, the calls that preceded the incident and some political forces raised the discourse of federalism and division, and their attempt to exploit the incident, cannot be ignored.

The majority of the security and judicial sources that Al-Akhbar spoke to have become almost certain that Haitham Tawq was killed in an exchange of fire between young men from the towns of Bsharri and Baqaasfrin, as a result of the permanent skirmishes in the region and the struggle over water refrigerators and pastures. According to the information, the clash took place after young men from Bsharri cut a water pipe that some of the residents of Baqaasafrin had extended to draw the water of one of the refrigerators to their crops in the area, as the presence of a large number of empty envelopes indicates a clash between two groups, and that Tawq was hit by a bullet from a Russian gun known as “Zakharov” or “Bin Laden” from a distance of about 160 meters, which undermines the theory of sniping, and this type of rifle is in the possession of both parties, with the possibility that Haitham was shot dead by young men from the D family. From the bottom of Safrin.

After Tawq was wounded, young men from Bcharreh took him to the hospital, while large groups of armed men from the town headed towards Al-Jurd with the aim of avenging his death. However, the Lebanese army had begun sending special forces urgently to the region, which relied for their movements on “ATV” mechanisms, and on a military helicopter and a Cessna plane (a large part of the events were documented in pictures).

When the Special Forces reached the outskirts, they were fired upon several times by gunmen coming from a human direction. According to the information, detainees at the intelligence justified the shooting at the army by believing that the vehicles belonged to Hezbollah, which the investigators were not convinced of. Although the army tried to avoid responding to the sources of fire, the repetition of the matter forced the soldiers to defend themselves and respond to the sources of fire. Malek Germanos Tawq was injured, which later led to his death. However, Malik’s injury did not deter the gunmen from targeting the army, so the helicopter intervened and fired from a distance of about 100 meters at a black four-wheel drive car, forcing four gunmen inside to leave it, lay down their weapons, and then surrender, so it became clear later that Malik was injured.

The investigation continues with four detainees from Bsharri and ten from Bekaasfrin to reach the full story.

In the part related to the killing of Haitham, the incident does not depart from the framework of the usual conflicts between the residents of the areas that witness real estate disputes, and the ordinary judicial judiciary can follow it up, as is happening now by the first investigating judge in the north, Samaranda Nassar, since the crime is an ordinary judicial one, and placed it in this framework He withdraws pretexts from those who want to turn it into a national security issue for political and sectarian goals. As for the killing of Malik, the case falls within the jurisdiction of the military court, because armed men attacked the army and the soldiers defended themselves. It is not clear if the file will be merged or the two issues will be dealt with separately, but what is certain is that what happened that night is not evidence of the existence of “two cultures”, nor of the existence of “border” between regions and sects, but rather of the existence of a culture of blood everywhere.

2023-07-09 22:29:30
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