Army Officer Dies of Wounds Sustained in Shooting, Road Blocked in Protest

Army officer Major Rabih Kahil died in hospital Wednesday after succumbing to wounds sustained in a shooting in the Aley District town of Bdadoun.

A statement issued by the Army Command said Kahil was “shot by a criminal as he was passing in the Bdadoun area on July 26.”

According to his family, he was heading to his house in the nearby Aley District town of al-Qmatiyeh.

Several TV networks said the officer was shot during a quarrel with two men after he parked his car on the side of the road in Bdadoun to make a phone call.

The dispute erupted after the two men arrived in a car and asked Kahil to leave the area, although he identified himself as an army officer.

A fistfight ensued before one of the men opened fire at Kahil from a weapon equipped with a silencer.

According to relatives, the officer received four gunshot wounds to the legs and was left to bleed in the location for several hours.

“Investigations have revealed that three suspects from the Daou family which hails from the (Aley District) town of Houmal were involved in the crime,” LBCI television said.

“The shooter has been identified as Hisham Daou and he is believed to have left Lebanon, probably to Turkey,” LBCI said.

It noted that two of the suspects are the sons of Houmal municipal chief Khalil Daou.

Media reports said on Wednesday evening that Daou had handed over his son, Elie, to the army's Intelligence Directorate.

The municipal chief had earlier issued a joint statement with Bdadoun's municipal chief and the two towns' mayors, in which they described Kahil as their “martyr.”

They also called for a “full investigation and the fulfillment of justice,” pledging that they will abide by the Lebanese judiciary's rulings.

Meanwhile, some of Kahil's relatives warned against leniency in the pursuit of the culprits, vowing to take justice on their own hands if the state fails to act.

In the afternoon, a number of young men had briefly blocked with burning tires the key Ring road in Beirut in protest at the crime.

Y.R.