A Statement on the Violations Committed by the Lebanese Army Against the Syrian Refugees

8/11/2019 A Statement on the Violations Committed by the Lebanese Army Against the Syrian Refugees

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Background

The ambush that was set by the Lebanese Army forImad Jomaa Abu Ahmed, Commander of the

so-called Dawn of Islam Brigade on 2nd August 2014 near the Lebanese town of Arsal was the

rst spark that ignited what was called Arsal Crisis and the following subsequences including the

military operations between the groups members on the one hand and the Lebanese Army on the

other hand. Those operations started by an attack carried out by a number of armed men, who were

believed to be members of al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Daash. The

attack enabled those armed groups detain more than twenty Lebanese soldiers and kill many others.

Attempts to settle things down started immediately afterwards, however, they failed. They were also

followed by violent clashes between the Lebanese Amy and those armed groups.

A doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous, stated that the so-called Arsal First Crisis was fab-

ricated by some parties opposing the Syrian presence in Lebanon and that the incident of Imad Jomaa

was just the beginning. The doctor has provided our center by names of more than sixty victimswho

were killed during the clashes. However, he stressed that the total number mounted to 100 victims

including civilian children and women and ghters, who were targeted by the Lebanese Army.

1- A video, that hasnt been checked by VDC yet, showed a group of gunmen claiming to be members of the Dawn of Islam Brigade declaring allegiance to the Khalifa of the Islamic State in

Iraq and the Levant Daash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl60TlJIGY8https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=1426219217https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQB-pJEBOOghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQB-pJEBOOghttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=1426219217https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl60TlJIGY8


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On 09/19/2014, an explosion of a Lebanese machinery, a reason of which was unknown, caused the

death of two Lebanese soldiers and the injury of four others, according to an eyewitness who added

that locals of Arsal, in addition to Syrian refugees hospitalized the victims to a eld hospital. Follow-

ing this incident, the Lebanese Army came and took the injured. After that, there have been storming

to several camps in Arsal , during which more than 250 Syrian refugeeshave been detained, 113 of

whom are still in custody. It was reported that one of those detainees, named Ahmad Muhammad

Durra, from Jrajeer, Damascus Suburbs, was tortured to death.

Ahmad was one of the refugees who had been arrested from Azot Camp on that same day. Other

detainees were reported to be killed under torture. However, we could not conrm their death yet.

2- Arsal has more than 62 refugee camps for Syrians, containing no less than 150 families in each camp.

Arsal Second Crisis:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=0https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=0


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Random Arrests and Burning of Dozens of Refugees Tents

On 25th September 2014, at about ve oclock in the morning, hundreds of heavily equipping sol-

diers of the Lebanese Army, who are believed to be from the Airborne Regiment, brutally stormed

many Syrian refugee camps including From Here Syrians Passed Camp in Raas al-Berj district in

Arsal, al-Sanabel Camp, al-Bunian Camp, Asal al-Ward Camp, and al-Shuhadaa Camp.

Activist Mohammed Zein, Abu Mustafa, 55 years, a school principle in Arsal, and a resident of

Qusair city in Homs, told VDC that a large number of the Lebanese Army soldiers have broken into

several camps, the rst of which was From Here Syrians Passed. They took all the families out of

their tents, beat, intimidate and humiliate them while opening heavy re in the air. After that, theygathered all males aged between 10 to 80 years, took off their clothes and handcuffed them. Then,

they arrested more than 210 civilians, most of whom were subjected to beatings with whips. Accord -

ing to our sources, they were taken to a military location called Ablah.

Abu Mustafa added: After arresting dozens of refugees in the camp, the soldiers went to al-Sanabel

Camp, which contains more than eighty tents. They burned more than sixty of them, and arrested

more than 230 refugees, only twelve of whom were released later. This was accompanied by insult -

ing the refugees, especially the elderly and the women.

One of VDC members, who resides in Beqaa region, said that the progress achieved recently by the

Syrian opposition armed groups in al-Qalamoun area was the likely reason behind the outbreak of

Arsal Crises because it led to great discontent on the part of the Lebanese Hezbollah, which ap -

peared to have a major role in inaming the situation in the refugee camps although the Lebanese

Army had completely had separated the Lebanese region of Arsal and the Syrian Qalamoun. Our

aforementioned member has conducted several interviews with eyewitnesses, who reported that the

Lebanese Army has stormed several camps, arrested hundreds of Syrians and killed two: Karam

Abdel Karim Zein, 60 years, and Mohammed Zahra from Qalamoun. Not only the Lebanese Army

soldiers have burned dozens of camps, but also they have attacked private property of Syrian refu -

gees. Such attacks included running over refugees cars and motorbikes by armored vehicles. In the

evening, about 20 detainees were released, while hundreds of others were kept in custody on charges

of belonging to jihadist organizations, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Daash.


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In this regard, refugee Abu Zakaria, told VDC that the Lebanese Army had stormed the camp he

lived in (al-Ward Camp, one of the centers afliated to the Union of Relief and Development Asso -

ciations) during the early hours of morning. They ordered all men and women to get out of the tents.

Beating them with batons and bottoms of their guns, they handcuffed all the men and made them

semi-naked in front of women then put nylon bags on their heads. He added:

We were taken to Raas al-Jabal area in Arsal, near an army barrack, where they put us in holes

designed for armored vehicles and began insulting us. They accused us of being members of Daash

and al-Nusra Front. They also swore they would tread on our heads and abuse us sexually, we were

(258) detainees.

According to Doctor Qassem Zein, born in Qusair city in Homs in 1965, dozens of cases were hos-

pitalized to the Medical Commission in Arsal, the medical point where he worked, including many

cases of suffocation and a challenged girl whose face and hands were burned as a result of setting re

in the tents of al-Sanabel Camp by the Lebanese Army. He also said that at about two oclock, sev-

eral detainees were released. He examined seven of them and found traces of torture on their bodies

as they were subjected to severe beatings after they had been taken to al-Laboyeh district near Arsal.
https://www.facebook.com/Medical.Commission.in.Irsal?fref=tshttps://www.facebook.com/Medical.Commission.in.Irsal?fref=ts


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Images of some of the released detainees with traces of torture on their bodiesas a result of the assault of the Lebanese Army


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An elderly injured who was detained on 25 September 2014 within the arresting campaign launched by

the Lebanese Army. He was released after being beaten severely by the stock of a gun.

The Violation Documentation Center in Syria strongly condemns these systematic violations and

atrocities against the Syrian refugees at the hands of the Lebanese Army on its territory, demanding

the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross

to shoulder their responsibilities and carry out their duties towards the protection of Syrian refugees

in Lebanon in the light of the worlds preoccupation with the military strikes carried out by the Unit-

ed States in Syria, which allowed the Lebanese Army to take advantage of this situation and some

Lebanese parties to obtain some political gains at the expense of the plight of the Syrian refugees.

It also calls the concerned parties to immediately release all detainees who have been arrested arbi-

trarily, stop the burning of the camps and safely transfer those proven guilty of violating the laws of

the Lebanese State to the Lebanese courts according to the law.
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.phphttp://www.vdc-sy.info/index.phphttp://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php


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A list of the refugeeswho have recently been arrested by the Lebanese Army.

This list does not include those who were arrested on 19 September 2014:

1- Abdulraheem Talib, 80 years, Homs

2- Abdulwahed Abdulraheem Talib, Homs

3- Muhammad Abdulraheem Talib, Homs

4- Mahmoud Abdulraheem Talib, Homs

5- Hassan Bakkar, Homs

6- Khaled Hasan al-Wao

7- Mustafa Ismael Harba

8- Yahya Abdulkareem Darweesh

9- Abdulsalam Muhammad Jarban

10- Mudar Muhammad Ali al-Masri

11- Majed Mudar al-Masri

12- Nidal Abdulsalam Jarban

13- Faisal Muhammad Ghazi Kazan

14- Sameer Muhammad Zoubi

15- Samer Muhammad Zoubi

16- Alaa Husni Khudr

17- Sulaiman Qubais Shaddadi

18- Ahmad Bari al-Issa

19- Urwa Muhammad Zeitoun

20- Abdulwahab Abdulkhaleq Harba

21- Muhammad Khudr al-Faraj

22- Dujan Qubais Shaddadi

23- Faisal Qubais Shaddadi

24- Sulaiman Qubais Shaddadi

25- Ahmad Muhammad al-Atar

26- Muhammad Amin al-Dayekh

27- Muhammad Ali Jomruk

28- Jihad Ahmad Ammar

29- Rifaat Mustafa Matar

30- Zakaria Abdullah Mansour

31- Abdullah Ghazi Ismael

32- Jaqob Ghazi Ismael

33- Mahmoud Berri Issa

34- Khaled Berri Issa

35- Fadi Berri Issa

36- Adnan Abdulhamid Turekmani

37- Taha Adnan Abbara

38- Muhammad Adnan Abbara

39- Khaled Fahmi Mando

40- Ghanem Khalef Hussein

41- Amir Abdulsater Arab

42- Imad Tawq Arab

43- Amer Tawq Arab

44- Muhammad Hasan Haswa

45- Ahmad Abdulkhaleq Haswa

46- Ashraf Abdulhamid Zahouri

47- Ahmad Mustafa Haswa

48- Maher Sulaiman Shaddadi

49- Yaseen Abdullah Zahouri

50- Ward Faydi Harba

51- Khaled Omar Fadel

52- Ahmad Sulaiman Ammar

53- Adnan Muhammad Ammar

54- Fidaa Yahya Amer

55- Jamal Omar Amer

56- Khaled Abdulraheem Bouzan
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=1474801026https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=1474801026


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57- Ahmad Abbas Harfoush

58- Muhammad Abdulkareem Hamoud

59- Mahmoud al-Breesh

60- Ahmad Fayyad

61- Muhammad Ahmad Awad

62- Ziad Ismael

63- Ibraheem Hasan Raad

64- Hasan Muhammad Ali Wao

65- Issa Ahmad Matar

66- Rodwan Hamdan

To view all the names documented by VDC, please visit the link:

http://goo.gl/otcLj5


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For any questions and comments:

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to view our previous reports:

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/ar/reports

Documents

A Statement on the Violations Committed by the Lebanese Army Against the Syrian Refugees