Lebanon Shocked at Rape, Death of 6-year-old Girl

Lynn Taleb (Al-Markaziah news agency)
Lynn Taleb (Al-Markaziah news agency)
TT

Lebanon Shocked at Rape, Death of 6-year-old Girl

Lynn Taleb (Al-Markaziah news agency)
Lynn Taleb (Al-Markaziah news agency)

The Lebanese judiciary has launched an investigation into the death of a six-year-old girl, following a sexual assault, as individual crimes continue to shake the society.

Local media reported the death of Lynn Talib, who had been staying for the past eight days in the house of her maternal grandparents in the Minieh region in northern Lebanon, after the divorce of her parents.

Al-Markaziah News Agency reported that two separate forensic doctors’ reports confirmed that she had been raped prior to her death.

According to available information, the mother of the child rushed to Al-Minieh Governmental Hospital, after her temperature rose, before returning home with her, although the doctor had requested her immediate admission to the hospital. The next day, the little girl died at her grandparents’ house.

A forensic doctor’s report pointed to bruises on the child’s face and swelling of the lips, and confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted. Her father’s family filed a lawsuit against her mother’s parents.

While the crime shook Lebanese public opinion, the Lebanese judiciary opened an investigation into the incident.

The official National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Public Prosecution Office in the North sent two forensic doctors to conduct the medical examination in order to draw up a report detailing the child’s health condition that led to her death.

In parallel, the Ministry of Health announced in a statement that it was “following up the circumstances of the death of the child, who was transferred twice on the same day to Al-Minieh Governmental Hospital.”

Lynn’s tragic death follows a series of individual crimes that took place during the past weeks in Lebanon, including a 75-year-old man killing his wife at home in the town of Al-Adaiseh in southern Lebanon, with a hunting rifle. The man turned himself in to the police.

In the Qornet al-Sawda area near the town of Bsharri in northern Lebanon, a young man, Haitham Tawk, was found killed by snipers. The Lebanese army used the air force to search for the perpetrators, while calls mounted for calm and restraint.



EU Says It Is Ready to Ease Sanctions on Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (L) pose for a photo during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 24 January 2025. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (L) pose for a photo during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 24 January 2025. (EPA)
TT

EU Says It Is Ready to Ease Sanctions on Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (L) pose for a photo during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 24 January 2025. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (L) pose for a photo during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 24 January 2025. (EPA)

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the 27-member bloc is ready to ease sanctions on Syria, but added the move would be a gradual one contingent on the transitional Syrian government’s actions.

Speaking during a joint news conference in Ankara with Türkiye's foreign minister on Friday, Kaja Kallas also said the EU was considering introducing a “fallback mechanism” that would allow it to reimpose sanctions if the situation in Syria worsens.

“If we see the steps of the Syrian leadership going to the right direction, then we are also willing to ease next level of sanctions,” she said. “We also want to have a fallback mechanism. If we see that the developments are going to the wrong direction, we are also putting the sanctions back.”

The top EU diplomat said the EU would start by easing sanctions that are necessary to rebuild the country that has been battered by more than a decade of civil war.

The plan to ease sanctions on Syria would be discussed at a EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday, Kallas said.