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

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



Israel Warns Lebanese against Returning to Area at Border

 This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
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Israel Warns Lebanese against Returning to Area at Border

 This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)

The Israeli army on Saturday warned residents of dozens of Lebanese villages near the border against returning until further notice, a day after Israel said its forces would remain in south Lebanon beyond a Sunday deadline for their departure.

A ceasefire that ended last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel stipulated that Israeli forces should withdraw as the Iran-backed group's weapons and fighters are removed from the south and the Lebanese army deploys. The deal, brokered by Washington and Paris, set a 60-day period which ends on Sunday.

But Israel said on Friday the terms had not been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, meaning Israeli troops would stay beyond Sunday, without saying for how long.

Lebanon's US-backed military on Saturday accused Israel of procrastinating in its withdrawal.

In a statement on social media platform X, the Israeli military posted a map showing an area of the south containing dozens of villages and reminding residents that until further notice they are forbidden from returning to their homes.

"Anyone who moves south of this line puts themselves in danger," the statement said.

The line stretches from Shebaa, less than 2 km (1.5 miles) from the border in the east, to Mansouri in the west - about 10 km (6 miles) from the border.

The ceasefire ended more than a year of hostilities which were triggered by the Gaza war and peaked in a major Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, which uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the group badly weakened.

The Israeli military says it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling its infrastructure in the south.

The White House said on Friday that a short, temporary ceasefire extension was urgently needed.

French President Emmanuel Macron told his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun that he was making contacts to maintain the ceasefire and complete the implementation of the agreement, the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.

Aoun stressed to Macron the need to oblige Israel to implement the deal to preserve stability in the south.

Hezbollah, which suffered major blows in the war, said on Thursday that any delay of Israel's withdrawal would be an unacceptable breach of the deal and put the onus on the Lebanese state to act. Hezbollah said the Lebanese state would have to deal with such a violation "through all means and methods guaranteed by international charters".

Israel said its campaign against Hezbollah aimed to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced by Hezbollah rocket fire to leave their homes in northern Israel.

The Lebanese army, in a statement issued on Saturday, urged Lebanese residents to wait before heading into the border region, citing the presence of mines and unexploded Israeli ordnance.

The army said it had continued to implement the plan to strengthen its deployment south of the Litani River since the ceasefire came into effect.

"Delays occurred in a number of the phases as a result of procrastination in the withdrawal by the Israeli enemy, which complicated the mission of the army's deployment," the statement said. The army "maintains its readiness to complete its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws".