Lebanese hunter shot at Syrian checkpoint

BEIRUT: A retired Lebanese soldier on a bird-hunting trip was shot dead at a Syrian military checkpoint in Arsal on the Syrian-Lebanese border, sparking anger and demands for an investigation into the killing.
Two other men were detained by Syrian security forces in the incident, the first of its kind since the July 2017 battles around the town between the Lebanese army and terror groups in the area.
Wissam Youssef Karnabi, Nayef Mahmoud Raed and Hussein Ali Al-Hujairi were partridge hunting with small nets in a security zone surrounding Arsal when the shooting took place.
Al-Hujairi is believed to have been shot by Syrian troops following a dispute at the checkpoint.
Future Movement MP Bakr Al-Hujairi, a relative of the dead man, said: “The three hunters were unarmed; all they carried were nets.” He told Arab News that his relative’s body had been recovered from Damascus on Saturday night, but the fate of the other two men remains unknown.
Bassel Al-Hujairi, the mayor of Arsal, said that the three hunters had been told by Syrian troops to approach the checkpoint, “but there seems to have been a dispute between the third hunter and the Syrian soldiers, so they shot him and arrested the other two.”
“The killing in this manner is not acceptable. There is no reason for it as the hunters were unarmed,” he said. A Lebanese mediator from Arsal had contacted Syrian security forces and arranged for the body to be recovered.
“The Syrian authorities transferred the body to a hospital in the area before it was delivered to the Lebanese side on Saturday through the Masnaa border crossing,” Al-Hujairi said.
Lebanese General Security had been told about the shooting and is following up the matter, the mayor said. He said the two men detained by the Syrian security forces are in their forties. The mayor said that the shooting victim’s funeral procession in Arsal had “an atmosphere of tension and anxiety.”

Lebanese hunter shot at Syrian checkpoint