Syrian gang killed an anti-Hezbollah Lebanese politician, Lebanon army says

On Sunday, Syrian kidnappers killed a Lebanese local political official belonging to a party that opposes the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, Lebanon’s army says, in a case that quickly shook the country.

Pascal Sleiman was a local coordinator in the Jbeil (Byblos) area, north of Beirut, for the Christian Lebanese Forces party that opposes Damascus and its ally Hezbollah — which has been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israel since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas six months ago.

Sleiman’s abduction on Sunday sparked outrage in his Jbeil district, where hundreds of supporters blocked roads after news of his death erupted, according to an AFP photographer in the area.

“Following up on the case of Pascal Sleiman, who was kidnapped, the army intelligence directorate was able to arrest most Syrian gang members involved in the kidnapping,” the Lebanese army says in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

The investigation found that “the kidnapped person was killed by them (the gang) while they were trying to steal his car in the Jbeil area, and they transported his body to Syria,” the army adds.