Syria Hands over 2 Lebanese Fishermen, 16-Year-Old Buried
Two Lebanese fishermen and the body of a third were handed over to the Lebanese army through the Abboudiyeh crossing at dawn Sunday after they were seized by Syria off the coast of the town of Arida the day before.
Sixteen-year-old Maher Hamad was killed and his uncles Fadi and Khaled, were seized and taken to the coastal city of Tartus in Syria after the Syrian navy opened fire on their boat.
A funeral procession for Maher made its way on Sunday from his parents' house in Arida towards the border, where mourners pelted Syrian troops on the other side with stones.
"There is no God but God, Bashar Assad is the enemy of God," they chanted, referring to the Syrian president who has faced 10 months of anti-regime protests.
Without the troops retaliating, the mourners turned around and made their way back to the village mosque.
Fadi Hamad recounted what he said was the boy's death at the hands of Syrian troops.
"We had cast our nets the night before and early Saturday morning we headed out to pull them in," Hamad, 36, told Agence France Presse.
"We then saw a boat pulling up to us and urged it to move back as they were nearing our net," he added.
"They disappeared briefly and then came back, and when they were near enough I could see about six armed men in the boat. We were terrified. They opened fire and both Maher and my brother were injured. Maher screamed."
The gunmen then forced the three fishermen into Syria, where Maher died of his wounds, he said.
Hamad said he was taken to a military intelligence center in Tartus where he was beaten and interrogated on whether he was an arms smuggler.
"I was asked repeatedly whether the arms were coming from Saad Hariri," he said.
"I told them I was a fisherman... but they kept hitting me, and my hands were tied. About an hour later, I was told there had been a mistake and President Assad wanted to forgive me. I was also informed my nephew was dead."
Khaled Hamad, 35, was treated for gunshot wounds to the leg.
Protesters set up a tent near the border. They refused to leave until Syria returns the boat of the fishermen.
President Michel Suleiman condemned the incident on Saturday, saying they should be returned home. The two states must respect each other's sovereignty and work together to prevent such incidents, he said.
Premier Najib Miqati also said the Lebanese-Syrian coordination committee should swiftly resolve the incident and bring back the men.
But Syria claimed on Saturday that its security forces seized the boat inside Syria’s territorial waters after infiltrating form northern Lebanon in an attempt to smuggle arms.
The state-run Syrian news agency, SANA, said five Lebanese boats opened fire on the three men for trying to escape and injured two of them.
It did not say that the 16-year-old was killed.
Despite the Syrian claims, the Lebanese authorities remained mum.
However, several Arida residents told the media that not a single Lebanese boat can head deep into the sea without the supervision of official Lebanese apparatuses, which proves that SANA’s statement is baseless.
over 12 years
I would like to see Cookie monster's reaction to that, but yet again i saw on earlier posts of this incident that of course he was acting as a Syria's lawyer, but what can you expect of a follower that has a master which is only one of Bachar's many shoes ? Maybe thhey should have used the 0-100kmh in 4 seconds " technique " that the General used when he fled like a cowardly chicken to the french embassy leaving his men to die in the same hands of the regime he once fought? its hard to admit cookie that your general was living la vida loca in France.
over 12 years
Teghyir wa esla7, now i understand the true meaning of the FPM, its " Teghyir " from patriots to Syrian shoe shiners, and " esla7 " is to make peace with the killers of many of our dear friends and brothers that got killed in Baabda in 91. I dont see any other meaning to that. At least i respect the Hezb for one thing, although i do not approve of anything they do, is that at least they never changed alliances, meanwhile the great general abandonned people in syrian prisons, if syria is our dear sister why dont they give them back ? it should be easier than asking Israel our ennemy to give us prisoners she has ? i hope your answer cookie is someehow logical to my last question
over 12 years
God is waiting for Bashar and all that follow him
over 12 years
If the filthy Mafia Hariri jerks fought the Syrians when fighting them made sense, Lebanon probably would have been in a better state than it is now. But the filthy want to wage the wrong wars and engage in the wrong battles at the wrong time. No wonder they are allies of Dr. Samir Epitome of Losers. Always the wrong associations. Always the wrong timing. Always the wrong battles. Always wrong. The filthy will never stop at using the poor, illiterate and ignorant to achieve their goals. bel ro7, bel dam, yafdouk ya cheikh Idiot. But cheikh Idiot is busy skiing and having fun in safer places while the poor are thrown into the fire and get butchered.
over 12 years
Assad forgave the innocent victims = What was there to forgive? Is the army brainwashed with hate of one Lebanese mp ?Bunch of morons. Typical desperation
over 12 years
"The two states must respect each other's sovereignty"... the Syrians never did before so why start now?
over 12 years
Anything I write here to express my feelings about this event will not be accepted and will be deleted. So I will just say I hope the families of the victims know that they are not alone anymore, their struggle touches and reaches other people across many boundaries.
over 12 years
I want to hear what the Cookie_bonehead has to say about the 16yr old death, same as his clone Habal and his Mouwaten Syria. They(Shabiha) and Syrian regime beat and torture innocent citizens whether those are on the Syrian or Lebanese side because they are incompetent to safeguard their own country. You see an eye for an eye and expect ARMED groups to retaliate the boy death, expect Syrian passing the borders into Lebanon/Syria to be killed in the future, expect ARMED groups to disarm Hizbollah because your people learn in one language only it's called "FORCE and Gangsters".
over 12 years
Is this not as big a crime as when the Israelis do the same thing off of Lebanon's southern border? Where is Hezbollah and the threat to use their divine weapons to defend the sovereignty of Lebanon and to resist all who would challenge it?
We are long past the time where Hezbollah's rhetoric means anything anymore. Their divine weapons are not divine. They resist nothing. They are like every other interloper ever to squat in Lebanon. They are after power, mafia style and the dignity of the country and its people mean nothing to them.
over 12 years
tahanina lal jeish el libneneh ou lal houkoume.
over 12 years
Where are the pro regime idiots now?
12 years
what a shame! is this not a big crime for innocent people that should be condemned?? where's the Lebanese army? where's the non-existent government?
Its ok its oour sister SYRIA, there is no resistance against our friendly best neighbour in the world, Hezbollah only aims at the Israelis rather than both. If only they could condemn it at least, it would show a little bit respect for those families and receive respect from other lebanese factions. But yet again, we can dream forever of this day when all lebanese will condemn such an act and demand fll explanations for this horrible crime. I guess the 16 year old was carrying two m16's and shooting like Rambo on the Syrian army ...Even Sleiman which never talks in order to keep neutral had FOR SURE received information that this was a pure act of vengeance and condemned and asked syria for respect of lebanese borders and sovereignety. This proves how wrong the syrians were on this one.