ARIDA, Lebanon: A funeral for a Lebanese teenager killed by Syrian naval forces gave way to anger Sunday in the Lebanese border town of Arida, with residents chanting anti-Syria slogans and calling for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the tense Lebanese-Syrian frontier to protect Lebanese citizens.
Three fishermen, identified as Fadi Hamad, 37, his brother Khaled Hamad, 33, and their nephew Maher Hamad, 17, were kidnapped by Syrian security forces Saturday morning after a Syrian naval vessel crossed 3 kilometers into Lebanon’s territorial waters.
Maher was shot in the stomach and killed when Syrian forces fired in the direction of the trawler, Arida residents said. There has been no statement so far from the Lebanese Army about the incident. Syria’s official news agency SANA said Syrian coastal guards in Tartous intercepted “a Lebanese smuggling boat trying to infiltrate Syrian territorial waters from north Lebanon.” It accused the crewmen of trying to escape, while “five Lebanese boats in Lebanese territorial waters opened fire on the boat, which resulted in the wounding of two of its members.”
Syrian officials have accused Lebanese factions of smuggling weapons to Syria.
Intensive high-level contacts made Saturday between Lebanon and Syria resulted in the release by Syrian authorities of Fadi and Khaled Hamad and the repatriation of Maher’s body, the state-run National News Agency reported.
At 1 a.m. Sunday, families of the fishermen headed to the Abboudiyeh border crossing to receive the two freed men while a Civil Defense vehicle transported the body of the slain teenager.
Sources told The Daily Star that the release occurred as a result of efforts by President Michel Sleiman and Syrian President Bashar Assad in coordination with the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council.
During the funeral procession in Arida, angry residents stormed the border crossing, throwing rocks at the Syrian outpost and shouting anti-Syrian slogans. Lebanese Army personnel held back young men who tried to cross into Syria territory.
The funeral procession began from Hamad’s residence in Arida. Amid chants of “there is no God but God and a martyr is God’s beloved,” mourners proceeded to the town’s mosque for prayers, while bereaved black-clad women wailed. Following prayers led by the Imam of Benin’s Mosque, the victim was laid to rest in Arida’s cemetery.
According to Arida residents, the three fishermen were in their boat inside Lebanese territorial waters in Arida preparing to set sail and throw their nets when they were approached by a Syrian fishing boat.
The boat carried Syrian security agents, who tried to arrest the three fishermen. The fishermen resisted, prompting the Syrians to fire on them in order to force them to accompany them to Syrian territory after killing Maher and wounding Khaled in his leg, the residents said.
Speaking to reporters about their ordeal, Fadi Hamad, wounds and scars of torture visible on his body, said they were in their boat preparing to set sail and throw their fishing nets into the water when a civilian boat carrying two men in civilian clothes approached the nets.
“We told them to stay away from the nets so that fishing will not be affected ... But the boat got closer to us and one of the two men jumped, brandishing his gun and opened fire on my nephew, Maher, who was steering the boat, hitting him in the stomach,” Hamad said. He added that a fistfight erupted between his brother, Khaled and the gunman, who shot him in his leg.
During the melee, another Syrian civilian boat arrived carrying gunmen who began firing on the fishermen, hitting Maher again in his stomach, Hamad said. He added that Syrian forces later tied their boat with their boats and took them handcuffed to an intelligence center in Al-Mantar area in Syrian territory.
Hamad said that during the investigation with him in an underground detention center, he and his brother were beaten by members of Syrian intelligence who told them that in return for their release, they must say that they were transporting arms to Syria and that they threw the alleged arms load in the sea.
Hamad called on the government to protect its citizens living in areas near the border with Syria. “I call on the state to shoulder its responsibility for what happened to us. My nephew fell martyr as a result of what happened,” Hamad said. He added that their fishing boat was still confiscated by Syrian forces.
After the incident, angry residents of Arida blocked the highway linking Lebanon and Syria for hours with burning tires.
Meanwhile, Akkar Future MP Mouin Mereibi criticized the Lebanese Army for failing to protect Lebanese citizens on the Lebanese-Syrian border. He lamented that the Army has turned into “traffic police.”
“The Army has abandoned its role in protecting the Lebanese border,” Mereibi told LBCI TV, calling for the deployment of Lebanese authority on the border.
“The Army’s work is to protect the people. If it doesn’t want to protect us, there’s no problem. Let them give us the arms they have and we are ready to protect ourselves,” Mereibi said. He added that if the government cannot protect the border with Syria, it should invite U.N. troops to do so.
The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense since the uprising in Syria began 10 months ago, with several incursions by the Syrian army, the killing of Lebanese citizens by Syrian security forces, and the firing at two fishing boats in August.
Separately, a Lebanese Red Cross vehicle transported Khaled Youssef, a Lebanese from the Wadi Khaled area, to a hospital in Qobeyat, after he was critically wounded by an explosion of a landmine planted by the Syrian army.
