Uproar Over Army Violence in North Lebanon Hospital

A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim
A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim
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Uproar Over Army Violence in North Lebanon Hospital

A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim
A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim

Two Lebanese soldiers were arrested on Wednesday after they stirred a social media uproar for slapping and pushing an ER doctor inside a hospital in the northern city of Tripoli.

A footage captured by CCTV late Tuesday, shows one soldier smacking the doctor in the face. Another soldier then shoves him in the back.

The assault took place after a man was brought to the city's Dar al-Shifaa hospital with a bullet wound following clashes between two families.

The video spread like bushfire on Lebanese social media.

"Doctors are human saviors and this is how they're protected?," wrote Tamara Rasamny on Instagram, in just one of hundreds of indignant reactions to flood social media.

The incident comes as Lebanon's health sector has received praise for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused only 26 recorded deaths so far but stretched hospitals to the brink.

Tripoli is an epicenter of the protest movement that erupted against the corruption and impunity of Lebanon's ruling elite in October.

The city is also among the regions hardest hit by Lebanon's spiraling economic crisis.

Last month, protests against growing economic hardship erupted in Tripoli and spread to other Lebanese cities.

The head of the local doctors syndicate, Salim Abi Saleh, condemned the assault, explaining that the physician wanted to treat the patient’s hemorrhage before allowing security forces to interrogate him.

"This is something we cannot tolerate," he told AFP, condemning what he described as "brutal behavior that tarnishes the military".

The army command swiftly announced the arrest of the two soldiers in connection with the incident, which it stressed "does not represent the institution".

An investigation has been launched into the incident, it added.



US to Eventually Reduce Military Bases in Syria to One, Says US Envoy

A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
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US to Eventually Reduce Military Bases in Syria to One, Says US Envoy

A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)
A US patrol in Qamishli’s countryside in Hasakah on April 20, 2022. (AFP)

The United States has begun reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases there, the US envoy for the country has said in an interview.

Six months after the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the United States is steadily drawing down its presence as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), a military task force launched in 2014 to fight the ISIS.

"The reduction of our OIR engagement on a military basis is happening," the US envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said in an interview with Türkiye's NTV late on Monday.

"We've gone from eight bases to five to three. We'll eventually go to one."

But he admitted Syria still faced major security challenges under interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose coalition toppled Assad in December.

Assad's ouster brought an end to Syria's bloody 14-year civil war, but the new authorities have struggled to contain recent bouts of sectarian violence.

Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, called for the "integration" of the country's ethnic and religious groups.

"It's very tribal still. It's very difficult to bring it together," he said.

But "I think that will happen," he added.

The Pentagon announced in April that the United States would halve its troops in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, saying the ISIS presence had been reduced to "remnants".