On April 14, a dismembered corpse was found in a garbage bag in the Ouzai neighborhood of southern Beirut. Despite the proliferation of the dreadful images of death lately in and outside Lebanon, crimes like this are still uncommon.
Ouzai residents gathered yesterday morning around the Sukleen vehicle that was collecting garbage and started asking whose body is this.They began whispering: “We don’t know him. Who did this? We’ve never seen crimes like this before.”
It is not easy to describe the scene. The way the corpse was butchered is terrifying. The head, hands, and legs were all severed from the body. The waste disposal workers found the black trash bag in the middle of the main street in Ouzai, across from al-Ahliah School. Police rushed to the scene and then the coroner came to inspect the remains and the investigation began.
According to the coroner, the crime took place no more than 24 hours ago and the corpse’s facial features are still visible. The neighborhood’s residents do not recognize the victim and neither do the security forces. No ID was found on the victim and there were no witnesses to the crime. Later on, some people suggested that the corpse probably belongs to a Syrian man. The police realized that they have a murder case on their hands and some suggest that the blood found on the ground in Bourj al-Barajneh - Ain al-Dilbi probably belongs to the same corpse found in Ouzai.
A sample from the blood found in Bourj al-Barajneh - Ain al-Dilbi was taken to compare with the blood from the Ouzai corpse but the results have yet to be announced.
A sample from the blood found in Bourj al-Barajneh - Ain al-Dilbi was taken to compare with the blood from the Ouzai corpse but the results have yet to be announced.
Al-Akhbar found out that some policemen suspect that the crime took place for “security reasons having to do with the events in Syria. The victim might be close to the regime in Syria and was bringing information to certain parties. Therefore, the killer might be close to the takfiri gangs in Syria.” The police speculate about this theory without being able to prove it definitively. They are keeping the reasons that led them to this conclusion a secret.
On the same day, news of yet another brutal murder emerged from the Saadiyat area south of Beirut. Unlike the murder in Ouzai, this time the victim’s origins and identity are known. The victim was 45-year-old Muhannad al-Atli, a Syrian national. His corpse was found completely burned inside his room in Sahel al-Chouf. According to the post-mortem medical examination, he died from stab wounds and was then set on fire. Some policemen suggest that this victim too might be an informant.
So what exactly is going on? Are we facing a wave of liquidating Syrian informants by the armed groups in Syria or a similar party inside Lebanon? The police are taking these hypotheses seriously and the investigations are ongoing. Perhaps the cameras might reveal something new once the footage is viewed.
There is a third incident that took place about a month and a half ago in Beirut’s southern suburbs. A Syrian man jumped from a high building in the Hadath region near the Lebanese University and died. On the face of it, it appeared to be a suicide. But some policemen think he was killed then thrown from the building or was thrown from the building while he was still alive.
These incidents become more suspicious when we add another murder that took place less than a month ago. Ali Harmoush, a Syrian national, was found dead, with multiple knife wounds in the Fanar region in the Metn district. The crime took place inside a building under construction near the Lebanese University’s Fanar campus. The unidentified murderer wrote on the wall of the room where Harmoush was killed “In revenge for Yabroud and Syria’s honor,” with the victim's blood.
Security sources told Al-Akhbar that, against the backdrop of the Syrian crisis, there is fear among Syrians themselves regarding these murders. They point out that Syrians’ security file in Lebanon has become huge, given that their unofficial number has reached nearly two million. Even before Syrians began to flee to Lebanon, the security forces used to complain about the lack of personnel. Today some are saying: “perhaps we need to declare a state of emergency.”
The security forces in all their agencies do not have the capacity to arrest everyone that should be arrested. Most police stations are not even properly staffed. Some security forces lately stopped arresting Lebanese and Syrians “unless they are suspected of a security-related crime. The traditional criminal cases are overlooked or more precisely go uninvestigated to avoid unwanted or unmanageable arrests as there aren’t enough cells and prisons.”
It appears that the state has surrendered to the security situation, which is too difficult to manage. A comprehensive security plan that would cover all Lebanese territories and that would not just target issues of terrorism is desperately needed. If this does not happen, we might be in store for more horrific crimes and perhaps a criminal-social explosion of the kind that would turn society into complete anarchy.
Update: According to Lebanon's National News Agency, the victim has been indentified as Mustafa Nassif Saad, about 45-years-old. Syrian national Zaki Saleh Tahawi and an unnamed Bengali woman have been arrested on suspicion of the crime.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.