Lebanon: A “revenge crime” that claimed the lives of two brothers and fueled tensions
Today, Sunday, in the town of Mashghara, located in the western Bekaa district, in eastern Lebanon, the two brothers Ali and Mohsen Abbas al-Ammar, who were victims of a heartbreaking murder, were buried, amid attempts by the town’s actors and parties to control the situation and calm the souls.
There are those who linked this painful incident to another horrific crime committed last September 2022, and therefore it was considered an act of revenge and revenge. It is noteworthy that in the previous crime, Ibrahim Muhammad Sharaf and his nephew Hussein Hassan Sharaf were shot dead, according to the trader, before they were joined less than a month later by Jaafar Abbas Sharaf, Ibrahim’s other nephew, in a massive shooting between the Sharaf and Al-Amar families.
A source close to the Al-Ammar family tells Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the two deceased were returning from the park they owned on the banks of the Litani River, accompanied by a friend of theirs who had come from the south to offer their condolences. Different types of firearms. And the source confirms, “What happened was a real assassination that claimed the lives of Mohsen and Ali,” noting that “both of them are in their forties, and they have a family and children. As for the young man who was with them, he is still in intensive care and his condition is very dangerous.”
The same source adds that “the criminals fled without any of them being arrested, nor were the houses of the Sharaf family raided, and the state took no action except by deploying members of the Lebanese army and activating its patrols.” He continues, “The Sharaf family are protected, as they live in the Midoun area adjacent to our town, noting that they were not expelled from our town, but rather left it of their own free will.”
According to the source close to the Al-Ammar family, “Mohsen and Ali committed treachery and paid the price for the first crime. It is an operation of revenge and revenge, and people outside the Sharaf family may be behind it as well, noting that Ali was previously subjected to an assassination attempt following the events of last September. The two brothers were killed.” Yesterday, as they always resorted to Sharia and the judiciary, and they were among the elders of the family seeking reconciliation and stopping the bloodshed.
The source explains, “What is happening is due to old disputes between the two families that began five years ago without the parties being able to resolve them. The main dispute began when a young man from the Sharaf family removed the Hezbollah flag from the shoulders of the wife of a young man from the Al-Amar family who belongs to the party, and threw it to the ground.” Matters heated up between the two families, knowing that each of them includes supporters of the Amal movement and Hezbollah (or what is known as the Shiite duo), so Mohsen Abbas Al-Ammar intervened at that time to avoid things from slipping to the worst.
The source added, “The problems continued between the two families, so that the first crime took place (in September 2022), and two members of the Sharaf family were killed, while three members of the Al-Ammar family were seriously injured.” He regrets that “the matter began with disagreement and conflict and ended with a murder. About 28 days later, Ali Hassan al-Ammar was wounded by 18 bullets in an ambush, knowing that he was accompanied by Ali Abbas al-Ammar. Armed clashes broke out, in which Jaafar Abbas Sharaf was killed.”
The same source close to the al-Ammar family points out that everyone “is waiting for the family’s decision to determine the demands. For seven months we have been appealing to those concerned and the state to intervene to stop the bloodshed, especially since we handed over those involved in the honor crime immediately, at the request of the parties, politicians and the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council.” However, the Sharaf family did not hand over the shooters who caused injuries, including those who had previously tried to assassinate Ali Abbas al-Ammar, who had been smuggled in.
The source stresses that “political affiliations have nothing to do with the crime. Rather, the matter is related to the failure of the parties and the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, which deceived us and did not oblige the Sharaf family to hand over the wanted persons at the time, which allowed the way for lawful killing. And here is the Council returning today, after nearly eight months, to denounce and call for arbitration. to reason, law and law.
On the other hand, an official source in the town of Mashghara told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that, “Things are not yet clear, and we cannot decide whether (the last crime) was a revenge operation for the crime of the honor family or not. But no one was punished for the previous crime, and no one was even identified.” According to what we know, the perpetrators, and the matter appears similar to the current crime, as the identities of the killers have not yet been revealed, but it is possible that the family of the two deceased knew about it and preferred to wait and not file charges, until a statement is issued in this regard.
And the official source continues, “There is more than one version related to what happened. We also heard that a citizen from the south came to offer condolences to the cousin of the two deceased. He was with them when the incident took place, and he may have been the intended target due to personal disputes related to him in his area.” However, he points out, “This story may only be used to reassure the people and public opinion, calm the souls, and ease tension. There are many conflicting issues, and the people remain silent. It is a tragedy that befell the family and left a state of anger and anticipation in the town.”
The same official source says, “The tension in the town is not great, as the family of the victims from the Sharaf family left the town months ago, that is, a period after the first crime, in order to avoid tension and bloodshed, and only those not concerned with the crime remained. Some members of the family also left.” Al-Ammar family, in order to avoid the loss of more lives, bearing in mind that the two families are considered among the large and basic families in the town.
It should be noted that the town of Mashghara previously witnessed efforts to prevent sedition by leaders of the “Amal Movement” and “Hezbollah” and some sheikhs of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, but they failed. Finally, the “Amal Movement” mourned the two deceased from the Al-Ammar family, while the political and religious parties began calling for “stopping the bloodshed and not resorting to taking revenge.”
In a related context, activists on social media expressed their dissatisfaction with the “uncontrolled weapons” and the “law of the jungle” that Lebanon is experiencing amid “the complete absence of the state and accountability mechanisms,” as well as “the perpetuation of a culture of impunity.” Others denounced “resorting to revenge” instead of resorting to the law and the judiciary, while some of them bemoaned the mashghara of the town of the artist Zaki Nassif, who sang “Go back, see you live.. go back to Lebanon,” and about the town that Fayrouz sang to, “Ya Qamar Mashghara” before to be drenched in blood.
