Beirut, August 10, 2023 (Xinhua) – The Lebanese army announced today (Thursday) that ammunition was transported on a truck that overturned yesterday (Wednesday) on the road to the Christian-majority town of Kahaleh in Mount Lebanon, and a dispute ensued, killing two people, to a military post.
The Lebanese army said in a statement today that “when a truck carrying ammunition overturned on the Kahala highway, a problem occurred between the truck’s escorts and the people, which led to two deaths” on Wednesday.
He continued, “A force from the army came to the place and worked to surround the problem, and the truck’s load was transferred to a military center, and an investigation began under the supervision of the competent judiciary.”
The statement added, “At four o’clock in the morning today, the force lifted the truck and opened the road in both directions, while the army continues to monitor the situation and take appropriate security measures.”
Two people were killed in the town of Kahala, Mount Lebanon, on Wednesday evening, in a shooting that followed a truck overturning at one of the town’s turns. Hezbollah mourned one of its members, while a statement by the town’s residents stated that one of its youth had been killed.
Hezbollah said in a statement yesterday that “while a Hezbollah truck was coming from the Bekaa (eastern Lebanon) to Beirut, it overturned in the Kahala area.”
He added, “While the brothers concerned with its delivery were making calls to ask for help and remove it from the road to continue its progress to its destination, a number of gunmen from the militias present in the area gathered and attacked the people of the truck in an attempt to control it.”
He added that these gunmen “started throwing stones first and then opened fire, which resulted in the injury of one of the brothers who were protecting the truck, and he was transferred to the hospital, where he was martyred later.”
The statement confirmed that “an exchange of fire took place with the armed aggressors,” before a Lebanese army force intervened, “preventing these gunmen from approaching or controlling the truck,” referring to ongoing contacts to address the existing problem.
A statement by the people of Kahaleh about the incident stated that “armed gunmen opened fire on the people of Kahaleh, killing a young man,” noting that the people “made a decision to keep the road in both directions.”
For its part, the Christian Lebanese Forces party said in a statement, “Al-Kahala was the scene of a show of surplus force and direct fire towards civilians who had gathered following the overturning of a truck believed to be carrying weapons, only to discover that an armed group was accompanying it.”
He added that the armed group accompanying the truck “fired directly at civilians, which led to the death of Fadi Youssef Al-Bajjani, who was trying to save the driver.”
The Christian Maronite League warned in a statement today that the two incidents of Kahala and Ain Ebel represent “signs to lure the country into sedition.”
On August 2, a former official in the Lebanese Forces party, Elias Al-Hasrouni, died in a traffic accident in the outskirts of the town of Ain Ebel in southern Lebanon, but his family later said that he was “kidnapped and killed.”
The Maronite League said that what is happening now is similar to “what happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which led the country to a 15-year (civil) war 1975/1990,” with human losses amounting to about 150,000 dead.
2023-08-11 02:08:04
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