3.12.05

Mass graves found in Anjar

The following courtesy of AFP:
The remains of more than 20 people who died several years ago were found in Lebanon Saturday, near what had been the headquarters and a prison of Syrian intelligence, police reported. Bones were found in three mass graves on a hillside opposite the facility in the ethnically Armenian village of Anjar, just three kilometres (two miles) from the Syrian border. They included human skulls and were found in 26 gunny sacks, which also contained underwear and the remains of one military uniform, an AFP photographer said.

An Anjar resident who requested anonymity told AFP that "prisoners who died in the Syrian mukhabarat (secret police) prison were buried on the hill." A statement from the Internal Security Forces (FSI) said a "forensic pathologist examined the remains, which have been put in bags that will be sent to laboratories for DNA testing in hopes of identifying them." It added that excavation work was continuing and that a judicial enquiry had been opened.

The official ANI news agency confirmed that graves had been discovered at the holy site, known as Al-Nabi Al-Ouzeir, but did not specify how many bodies had been found. Lebanese police enforced a security cordon around the burial site, although excavation teams could be seen continuing their work. A pathologist who visited the site said the remains dated from at least 12 years ago.

The fact that the remains were in bags and not buried according to any religious rites indicated the people may have been killed. The prison dates back to 1976, when Syrian troops first moved into Lebanon a year after the outbreak of its 15-year-long civil war. It was used as a transit point through which Lebanese detainees on their way to Syrian jails passed.

3 Comments:

At Saturday, December 03, 2005 8:55:00 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said...

Related to your post on HA, on your blog Kais:

HA (and Amal, and Lahoud) has to be reminded daily that this horror is the doing of their FRIENDS AND FUCKING ALLIES.

Let THEM be under pressure every time they open their mouths.

As to Lahoud, commander-in-chief of the army: a million shames on you, and a million poxes on all your friends.

 
At Saturday, December 03, 2005 9:05:00 PM, Blogger Master Blaster said...

Josey is right in the sense that HA has maintained a really deeply offensive self-righteousness. I've quoted Hazem Saghieh on this. HA has presented it as such that the only legitimate horrors and or atrocities to be remembered are Israel's and those of its allies.

If those same horrors and atrocities were committed by Syria, they are to be washed away as "mistakes."

The depth of this problem is in the monopoly of memory as well the discourse of victimology and absolute truth. Saghieh nailed it on the head. That type of triumphalist, self-righteous absolutism (the transcendent passive-aggressive victimology, which is really nothing more than an exploitation and manipulation of the Shi'a community) has no place in Lebanon.

For every comment HA has about harm done to Shiites by Israel, other Lebanese (including the Shiites!!!) have a comment regarding Syria or the Palestinians (or, for that matter, during the 70s Libyans, Sudanese, Somalians, etc.). I.e., their absolutism is irreconcilable with Lebanon.

They have no monopoly on truth or the presentation of history. They just have weapons. So please, don't sell me they are not pointed at other Lebanese. That's the only place they are pointed at, if you follow what I am saying.

 
At Sunday, December 04, 2005 9:17:00 PM, Blogger Maldoror said...

I sure hope Lebanese Victory, that you keep your comments within the limits of politeness and open minded dialogue, so everybody can relate to what you are saying and move forward from there on. Thank you!

 

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