Syrian government condemns killing of Lebanese official
DAMASUS, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian Embassy in Lebanon condemned, on Friday, the killing of a Lebanese official after being kidnapped by a gang of thieves.
The embassy called in a statement for “rejecting incitement against Syrian citizens,” stressing Syria’s keenness on Lebanon’s security and stability and on cooperating with its competent agencies to hand over those wanted on both sides in the interest of the two brotherly countries, according to the statement.
On April 9, the Lebanese army announced that Syrian kidnappers killed Pascal Sleiman, Lebanese local political official belonging to a party that opposes the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and transported his body to Syria.
Sleiman was a local coordinator in the Jbeil area, north of Beirut, for the Christian Lebanese Forces party that opposes Damascus and its ally Hezbollah.
Following the killing of Sleiman and the accusation of Syrians in this, different areas of the country have witnessed a series of attacks targeting Syrian workers and individuals, including women.
The Syrian Embassy expressed its regret for the crime committed against one of the Lebanese citizens and some of the reactions to it that led to attacks on some Syrian citizens.
For his part, Abdulsalam Ahmad, representative of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in Lebanon, told North Press on Saturday that the attacks on Syrian refugees do not serve the interest of Lebanon, and they conveyed this message to many active Christian forces in the country.
Ahmad said that he addressed many active Christian forces in Lebanon to work on stopping these assaults and those forces later issued statements calling for calm.
He pointed out that “after every incident or argument about the Syrian presence in Lebanon, the Syrians are burdened with the intractability the country is experiencing at all levels.”
In April 2024, the AANES expressed its readiness to receive Syrian refugees forcibly deported by Lebanese authorities.