Asharq Al-Awsat learned from an informed official source that, during the past hours, Hezbollah handed over the shooter of the Irish patrol to the Lebanese Army Intelligence.
The source confirmed that the incident “necessitated raising the level of coordination between the Lebanese army and the international forces.” He said that UNIFIL’s commander, General Aroldo Lázaro Saenz, “demanded, from the first moment of the incident, a transparent investigation, the arrest of the shooters and bringing them to justice, and he is obliged to provide the United Nations in New York with answers about the truth of what happened.”
And the official source quoted UNIFIL officials as saying that “quick action is required that leads to the arrest of the perpetrators, and that investigations prove that the incident was accidental and not a premeditated act.” And he stressed that “even if the hypothesis that the Irish patrol lost its way was correct, or that it erred and changed its course, this does not necessitate the commission of a murder.”
On the other hand, security and judicial investigations into the incident continue. A judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the investigation has become familiar with all the details.” He pointed out that “the details of the crime will be announced soon, through which the causes of the accident will be revealed, and whether it was accidental or planned.”
On the occasion of Christmas, the Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai sent a message in which he spoke of a “plot against Lebanon” to create a presidential vacancy coupled with a constitutional vacuum that more and more complicates the election of a president for the republic, considering that the international conflict hinders efforts to accomplish this merit, and at the same time renewed his call for a convening A conference sponsored by the United Nations and friendly countries for Lebanon, to neutralize it from any military confrontation at this unknown regional stage.
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