New Crime Shakes Lebanon: Young Woman Killed After Being Raped in Hotel in Raouche

A horrific crime has rocked Lebanon this evening, as it was reported that a worker at the New Versailles Hotel in Beirut's Raouche area assaulted a Lebanese woman (Z.M.), in her thirties, who worked with him at the hotel. He raped and abused her yesterday and then left her in a hotel storage room. She was transferred to the American University Hospital in Beirut in very critical condition but passed away this evening. Security forces have launched an investigation into the incident and are pursuing him for arrest after he went into hiding. Following judicial instructions, the investigation has been handed over to the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces. Initial suspicions point to a Syrian man born in 1989, who has vanished, while the Information Branch is verifying his identity, with a likelihood that the perpetrator is of Lebanese nationality and not the Syrian man. Data has been pulled from the hotel’s cameras.