Off-duty soldier shoots two men dead in southern Lebanon outside pub

Rage bar and restaurant in south Lebanon where shooting incident happened Wednesday at dawn following row between drunken men. (Facebook)

• Row escalated into fight outside Rage bar and restaurant in Mjaydel village before soldier opened fire using pump-action rifle
• Soldier surrendered himself to security authorities after incident

BEIRUT: Two men were shot dead by an off-duty soldier in southern Lebanon early on Wednesday.
The shooting happened after a heated argument involving the victims, Mohammed Ammar and Ibrahim Abdullah, and the soldier.
Reports said the row escalated into a fight outside the Rage bar and restaurant in Mjaydel village before the soldier opened fire using a pump-action rifle between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.
The venue’s owner, however, insisted the brawl and shooting took place nowhere near his business.
One of the victims died instantly while the other died from his injuries at a government hospital in Sidon, medical sources told Arab News.
The soldier, who Lebanese media identified only by his initials, K.K., surrendered to the security authorities later.
All those involved had been drinking heavily, Lebanese media said.
The shooting took place despite the government ordering Lebanon’s pubs and nightclubs to remain closed as part of COVID-19 restrictions. Restaurants and cafes are allowed to operate until 9 p.m. at a capacity of 50 percent inside and 75 percent outdoors.
Teams from the Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces rushed to the scene to investigate the shooting. The victims’ BMW car, which was riddled with bullet holes, was examined by detectives.
Charle Helou, owner of Rage, told Arab News that the fight and killings took place at a completely different location to his bar.
He said he had been forced to close by a legal order after his venue was linked to the shootings on social media.
Helou insisted he had not flouted COVID-19 restrictions and been operating at half capacity as per the rules.
“We have paid a lot of money to operate this business and just because of rumors, the place has been shut down,” he said.
He said security officers checked his security cameras before closing the venue.
The tourism ministry said the bar was closed after the shooting incident exposed it had been flouting COVID-19 restrictions.
Lebanon heads into a three-day nationwide curfew this weekend for the Easter holiday to try and stop a COVID-19 surge from the holidays.