a statement on the violations committed by the lebanese army against the syrian refugees
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Background
The ambush that was set by the Lebanese Army forImad Jomaa Abu Ahmed, Commander of the
so-called Dawn of Islam Brigade on 2nd August 2014 near the Lebanese town of Arsal was the
rst spark that ignited what was called Arsal Crisis and the following subsequences including the
military operations between the groups members on the one hand and the Lebanese Army on the
other hand. Those operations started by an attack carried out by a number of armed men, who were
believed to be members of al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Daash. The
attack enabled those armed groups detain more than twenty Lebanese soldiers and kill many others.
Attempts to settle things down started immediately afterwards, however, they failed. They were also
followed by violent clashes between the Lebanese Amy and those armed groups.
A doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous, stated that the so-called Arsal First Crisis was fab-
ricated by some parties opposing the Syrian presence in Lebanon and that the incident of Imad Jomaa
was just the beginning. The doctor has provided our center by names of more than sixty victimswho
were killed during the clashes. However, he stressed that the total number mounted to 100 victims
including civilian children and women and ghters, who were targeted by the Lebanese Army.
1- A video, that hasnt been checked by VDC yet, showed a group of gunmen claiming to be members of the Dawn of Islam Brigade declaring allegiance to the Khalifa of the Islamic State in
Iraq and the Levant Daash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl60TlJIGY8https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=1426219217https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQB-pJEBOOghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQB-pJEBOOghttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=1426219217https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl60TlJIGY8 -
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On 09/19/2014, an explosion of a Lebanese machinery, a reason of which was unknown, caused the
death of two Lebanese soldiers and the injury of four others, according to an eyewitness who added
that locals of Arsal, in addition to Syrian refugees hospitalized the victims to a eld hospital. Follow-
ing this incident, the Lebanese Army came and took the injured. After that, there have been storming
to several camps in Arsal , during which more than 250 Syrian refugeeshave been detained, 113 of
whom are still in custody. It was reported that one of those detainees, named Ahmad Muhammad
Durra, from Jrajeer, Damascus Suburbs, was tortured to death.
Ahmad was one of the refugees who had been arrested from Azot Camp on that same day. Other
detainees were reported to be killed under torture. However, we could not conrm their death yet.
2- Arsal has more than 62 refugee camps for Syrians, containing no less than 150 families in each camp.
Arsal Second Crisis:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=0https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_kW4YWQBnJku7g0HHOp---wYPT25MZmj8yCiGb7udo/edit#gid=0 -
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Random Arrests and Burning of Dozens of Refugees Tents
On 25th September 2014, at about ve oclock in the morning, hundreds of heavily equipping sol-
diers of the Lebanese Army, who are believed to be from the Airborne Regiment, brutally stormed
many Syrian refugee camps including From Here Syrians Passed Camp in Raas al-Berj district in
Arsal, al-Sanabel Camp, al-Bunian Camp, Asal al-Ward Camp, and al-Shuhadaa Camp.
Activist Mohammed Zein, Abu Mustafa, 55 years, a school principle in Arsal, and a resident of
Qusair city in Homs, told VDC that a large number of the Lebanese Army soldiers have broken into
several camps, the rst of which was From Here Syrians Passed. They took all the families out of
their tents, beat, intimidate and humiliate them while opening heavy re in the air. After that, theygathered all males aged between 10 to 80 years, took off their clothes and handcuffed them. Then,
they arrested more than 210 civilians, most of whom were subjected to beatings with whips. Accord -
ing to our sources, they were taken to a military location called Ablah.
Abu Mustafa added: After arresting dozens of refugees in the camp, the soldiers went to al-Sanabel
Camp, which contains more than eighty tents. They burned more than sixty of them, and arrested
more than 230 refugees, only twelve of whom were released later. This was accompanied by insult -
ing the refugees, especially the elderly and the women.
One of VDC members, who resides in Beqaa region, said that the progress achieved recently by the
Syrian opposition armed groups in al-Qalamoun area was the likely reason behind the outbreak of
Arsal Crises because it led to great discontent on the part of the Lebanese Hezbollah, which ap -
peared to have a major role in inaming the situation in the refugee camps although the Lebanese
Army had completely had separated the Lebanese region of Arsal and the Syrian Qalamoun. Our
aforementioned member has conducted several interviews with eyewitnesses, who reported that the
Lebanese Army has stormed several camps, arrested hundreds of Syrians and killed two: Karam
Abdel Karim Zein, 60 years, and Mohammed Zahra from Qalamoun. Not only the Lebanese Army
soldiers have burned dozens of camps, but also they have attacked private property of Syrian refu -
gees. Such attacks included running over refugees cars and motorbikes by armored vehicles. In the
evening, about 20 detainees were released, while hundreds of others were kept in custody on charges
of belonging to jihadist organizations, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Daash.
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In this regard, refugee Abu Zakaria, told VDC that the Lebanese Army had stormed the camp he
lived in (al-Ward Camp, one of the centers afliated to the Union of Relief and Development Asso -
ciations) during the early hours of morning. They ordered all men and women to get out of the tents.
Beating them with batons and bottoms of their guns, they handcuffed all the men and made them
semi-naked in front of women then put nylon bags on their heads. He added:
We were taken to Raas al-Jabal area in Arsal, near an army barrack, where they put us in holes
designed for armored vehicles and began insulting us. They accused us of being members of Daash
and al-Nusra Front. They also swore they would tread on our heads and abuse us sexually, we were
(258) detainees.
According to Doctor Qassem Zein, born in Qusair city in Homs in 1965, dozens of cases were hos-
pitalized to the Medical Commission in Arsal, the medical point where he worked, including many
cases of suffocation and a challenged girl whose face and hands were burned as a result of setting re
in the tents of al-Sanabel Camp by the Lebanese Army. He also said that at about two oclock, sev-
eral detainees were released. He examined seven of them and found traces of torture on their bodies
as they were subjected to severe beatings after they had been taken to al-Laboyeh district near Arsal.
https://www.facebook.com/Medical.Commission.in.Irsal?fref=tshttps://www.facebook.com/Medical.Commission.in.Irsal?fref=ts -
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Images of some of the released detainees with traces of torture on their bodiesas a result of the assault of the Lebanese Army
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An elderly injured who was detained on 25 September 2014 within the arresting campaign launched by
the Lebanese Army. He was released after being beaten severely by the stock of a gun.
The Violation Documentation Center in Syria strongly condemns these systematic violations and
atrocities against the Syrian refugees at the hands of the Lebanese Army on its territory, demanding
the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross
to shoulder their responsibilities and carry out their duties towards the protection of Syrian refugees
in Lebanon in the light of the worlds preoccupation with the military strikes carried out by the Unit-
ed States in Syria, which allowed the Lebanese Army to take advantage of this situation and some
Lebanese parties to obtain some political gains at the expense of the plight of the Syrian refugees.
It also calls the concerned parties to immediately release all detainees who have been arrested arbi-
trarily, stop the burning of the camps and safely transfer those proven guilty of violating the laws of
the Lebanese State to the Lebanese courts according to the law.
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.phphttp://www.vdc-sy.info/index.phphttp://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php -
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A list of the refugeeswho have recently been arrested by the Lebanese Army.
This list does not include those who were arrested on 19 September 2014:
1- Abdulraheem Talib, 80 years, Homs
2- Abdulwahed Abdulraheem Talib, Homs
3- Muhammad Abdulraheem Talib, Homs
4- Mahmoud Abdulraheem Talib, Homs
5- Hassan Bakkar, Homs
6- Khaled Hasan al-Wao
7- Mustafa Ismael Harba
8- Yahya Abdulkareem Darweesh
9- Abdulsalam Muhammad Jarban
10- Mudar Muhammad Ali al-Masri
11- Majed Mudar al-Masri
12- Nidal Abdulsalam Jarban
13- Faisal Muhammad Ghazi Kazan
14- Sameer Muhammad Zoubi
15- Samer Muhammad Zoubi
16- Alaa Husni Khudr
17- Sulaiman Qubais Shaddadi
18- Ahmad Bari al-Issa
19- Urwa Muhammad Zeitoun
20- Abdulwahab Abdulkhaleq Harba
21- Muhammad Khudr al-Faraj
22- Dujan Qubais Shaddadi
23- Faisal Qubais Shaddadi
24- Sulaiman Qubais Shaddadi
25- Ahmad Muhammad al-Atar
26- Muhammad Amin al-Dayekh
27- Muhammad Ali Jomruk
28- Jihad Ahmad Ammar
29- Rifaat Mustafa Matar
30- Zakaria Abdullah Mansour
31- Abdullah Ghazi Ismael
32- Jaqob Ghazi Ismael
33- Mahmoud Berri Issa
34- Khaled Berri Issa
35- Fadi Berri Issa
36- Adnan Abdulhamid Turekmani
37- Taha Adnan Abbara
38- Muhammad Adnan Abbara
39- Khaled Fahmi Mando
40- Ghanem Khalef Hussein
41- Amir Abdulsater Arab
42- Imad Tawq Arab
43- Amer Tawq Arab
44- Muhammad Hasan Haswa
45- Ahmad Abdulkhaleq Haswa
46- Ashraf Abdulhamid Zahouri
47- Ahmad Mustafa Haswa
48- Maher Sulaiman Shaddadi
49- Yaseen Abdullah Zahouri
50- Ward Faydi Harba
51- Khaled Omar Fadel
52- Ahmad Sulaiman Ammar
53- Adnan Muhammad Ammar
54- Fidaa Yahya Amer
55- Jamal Omar Amer
56- Khaled Abdulraheem Bouzan
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57- Ahmad Abbas Harfoush
58- Muhammad Abdulkareem Hamoud
59- Mahmoud al-Breesh
60- Ahmad Fayyad
61- Muhammad Ahmad Awad
62- Ziad Ismael
63- Ibraheem Hasan Raad
64- Hasan Muhammad Ali Wao
65- Issa Ahmad Matar
66- Rodwan Hamdan
To view all the names documented by VDC, please visit the link:
http://goo.gl/otcLj5
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For any questions and comments:
to view our previous reports:
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/ar/reports