Lebanese citizens have found their means of living diminished, leading some young men to choose perilous paths in the mountainous regions of their border villages in search of a risky and adventurous source of income. This journey is fraught with exhaustion and, unfortunately, bloodshed, while the state is absent from some of these mountainous passages where the word belongs to unnamed powers that be, even though whispers hint that they are known, sometimes by name.
These paths were soaked in blood on the night of Friday to Saturday when two young men, Tarek Zidan and Yahya Alaa El-Din, fell victim to a horrific murder in the outskirts of their border town in the Rashaya district, which is considered within Lebanese territory and should be under security control.
Five days have passed since the crime that shook the town of Yanta without any leads uncovering the perpetrators. The only demand expressed by the victims’ parents was to identify and punish the killers, which they conveyed with pain and despair during a call with a senior military official on the day of the funeral.
However, something strange is happening in this border town: this horrific crime was not the first. A few months prior, another murder claimed the life of a local resident in the outskirts of the village, with its truth remaining undisclosed. This was followed weeks later by an attempted murder targeting a young man in front of his home in the town center, from which he miraculously survived after suffering severe injuries.
These consecutive mysterious crimes have instilled immense worry among the town's residents, fearing a recurrence of such events if the murder of Zidan and Alaa El-Din remains shrouded in silence. The ease of murder and evasion of punishment threatens new chapters of these crimes, regardless of their circumstances or motives.
The residents have placed themselves under the protection of the Lebanese army, which is deployed along the borders and had stationed a border regiment in the area months ago as part of a security plan to control the borders. However, these ongoing crimes necessitate different and decisive measures, which should begin with closing the mountain paths used for smuggling, known to all locals, in a bid to spare more lives and protect a generation of youth whose futures have been engulfed by the economic crisis, wandering in search of their destiny, even if it is intertwined with death.
In follow-up to this case and to underscore the necessity of uncovering all aspects of the crime, MP Wael Abu Faour, heading a delegation from the town of Yanta, visited the Director General of Internal Security Forces Major General Imad Othman, Army Commander Joseph Aoun, Head of Staff General Amin Al-Aram, and the Director of Intelligence, demanding that the perpetrators be identified and arrested.
Yanta bid farewell to Zidan and Alaa El-Din on Sunday afternoon, amidst much anger and sorrow, sending them off with songs of joy and the sprinkling of flowers and rice. In the moment of their final farewell, the voice of one of their companions resounded, stating: "Tarek and Alaa are martyrs, and we refuse to describe them as anything other than martyrs." For those who fall on the ground of suffering and oppression are indeed martyrs.
The state and its security agencies, along with the judiciary, face a new challenge to deliver justice and punish the killers, whoever they may be, as only justice can soothe the anguished souls of the bereaved residents. Will the state secure their rights this time, or will they become just two more numbers in the registry of victims of this predicament we live in?
