Thousands of People Mourn Slain Lebanese Forces Official

Mourners carry the coffin of Pascal Sleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces party, during his funeral in Jbeil, Lebanon, 12 April 2024. (EPA)
Mourners carry the coffin of Pascal Sleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces party, during his funeral in Jbeil, Lebanon, 12 April 2024. (EPA)
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Thousands of People Mourn Slain Lebanese Forces Official

Mourners carry the coffin of Pascal Sleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces party, during his funeral in Jbeil, Lebanon, 12 April 2024. (EPA)
Mourners carry the coffin of Pascal Sleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces party, during his funeral in Jbeil, Lebanon, 12 April 2024. (EPA)

Thousands of Lebanese on Friday mourned a slain Lebanese Forces official authorities said was killed by a Syrian gang, with supporters pointing the finger at Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

Pascal Sleiman was a coordinator in the Jbeil area north of Beirut for the Lebanese Forces (LF) Christian party, which opposes the government in neighboring Syria and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

On Monday, the army said that Sleiman, who had gone missing the day before, was killed in a carjacking by Syrian gang members who then took his body across the border.

His party said it would consider Sleiman's death a "political assassination until proven otherwise".

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has denied that his party was involved.

Speaking after Sleiman's funeral, LF leader Samir Geagea called for the "failed, corrupt" authorities in Lebanon to be changed.

Geagea blamed their failure, among other things, on "illegal weapons" -- a barely veiled reference to Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed group is the only party in Lebanon that has kept its weapons arsenal after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, and it wields great influence on the country's political life.

Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in actions opposed by the LF and other parties.

"We don't want to wake up one day, as we did now, and find ourselves involved in a never-ending war," Geagea said Friday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, spiritual leader of Lebanon's largest Christian sect, held back tears as he presided over Sleiman's funeral in Jbeil.

Outside the St Georges church, LF supporters waved the party's white flag with its cedar tree -- the symbol of Lebanon -- circled in red.

Mourners told AFP they were unconvinced by the army's version that car thieves killed Sleiman.

"This story never convinced me. It is not coherent at all," said Jean Habshi, 50, who came to pay his respects.

"Enough with Hezbollah, enough with the illegal weapons," Roba Hajal, 24, told AFP outside the church.

"If they (Hezbollah) did not kill him, at the very least they allowed the Syrians in. We are all at risk of meeting Pascal's fate," she said.

Lebanon has a long history of political assassinations that have taken place with impunity.

Years of economic meltdown have further strained a weak judiciary that has been widely accused of succumbing to political interference.

Ziad Hawat, an LF lawmaker from Jbeil, on Friday called for a "serious, transparent" probe into Sleiman's murder, adding that the party had concerns "based on past experiences".

"We do not want the killer to be known to all," he added, while "remaining unknown to the judiciary".

On Tuesday, caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi vowed to get tough on Syrians after several were arrested on suspicion of involvement in Sleiman's killing.



Lebanon Arrests ‘Parent Group’ Behind Rocket Launches toward Israel

Lebanese Army soldiers search a car at a checkpoint. (Directorate of Guidance) 
Lebanese Army soldiers search a car at a checkpoint. (Directorate of Guidance) 
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Lebanon Arrests ‘Parent Group’ Behind Rocket Launches toward Israel

Lebanese Army soldiers search a car at a checkpoint. (Directorate of Guidance) 
Lebanese Army soldiers search a car at a checkpoint. (Directorate of Guidance) 

The Lebanese Army has arrested members of what is believed to be the “parent group” behind recent rocket launches toward Israel, security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The group was apprehended by Military Intelligence in a raid as they were preparing to fire rockets from southern Lebanon, in what appears to be part of a larger, coordinated campaign.

According to investigators, the detainees confessed to carrying out two rocket attacks in March—one launched from the area between Kfartebnit and Arnoun, and the second from Qaaqaiyat al-Jisr, both in the Nabatieh district. The projectiles were intercepted by Israeli defenses before reaching their intended targets in Metula and Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.

The army announced Sunday that it had seized a number of rockets and launchers in a raid on an apartment in the Sidon-Zahrani area, and arrested several individuals involved in the planned operation. The military said the bust followed extensive surveillance and intelligence-gathering.

Security sources said the volume of weapons recovered suggests a larger logistical operation designed to supply multiple attacks. The cache included enough rockets and launch platforms to sustain repeated launches, rather than a single strike. The weapons were found stored in a residential area in the town of Aqtnit, in the Zahrani region near Sidon.

Investigators believe the cell is part of a broader Palestinian network operating in the South. The arrests were reportedly aided by information obtained from earlier detainees and ongoing surveillance. The sources confirmed that the suspects are now under questioning, with investigations being conducted under judicial supervision.

Following the March attacks, army units intensified security operations in areas north of the Litani River and ramped up monitoring of Palestinian camps, particularly Ain al-Hilweh and Rashidieh. Access to and from the camps has been placed under tighter scrutiny. The Lebanese Army is also said to be cooperating with Hezbollah in some areas, particularly along the southern frontier.

Military sources emphasized that the army’s actions reflect Lebanon’s continued commitment to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the disarmament of all non-state actors south of the Litani and reserves military authority to the state.

The arrest operation has been met with praise from Lebanese political and military circles, who see it as a reaffirmation of the state’s authority and a message to the international community that Lebanon remains committed to preventing escalation with Israel.