Cabinet Refers Btedei Crime to Judicial Council

The cabinet referred on Thursday the crime of Btedei to the judicial council, two weeks after a judge indicted eight members of the Jaafar clan over links to the case.

“The crime has been referred to the judicial council,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij told reporters after the cabinet session at the Grand Serail.

Earlier this month, eight Jaafar clan members were indicted in the murder of Sobhi and Nadimeh Fakhri in the town of Btedei in the eastern Baalbek district in November last year.

They were referred to the Bekaa Criminal Court for trial.

The couple were killed by fugitives from the Jaafar clan who were fleeing army troops. The gunmen entered the family's house with the intent of taking their vehicle but the tenants showed resistance, which prompted the armed men to shoot the couple and their son, who survived the attack.

Last month, one of the suspects was killed in a clash with the army.

Ahmed Mohammed Salim Jaafar was injured after the military ambushed him in an area between al-Yammouneh and Dar al-Wasaa.

But he later succumbed to his injuries.

Asked about the developments in Yemen, Jreij described them as “dangerous,” stressing that Prime Minister Tammam Salam will express Lebanon's stance during the Arab League summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The summit will be held on March 28 and 29.

Saudi Arabia said more than 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies, had joined the coalition to prevent the fall of Yemeni embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

The coalition launched a military offensive in Yemen after the Shiite rebels moved on Hadi's last refuge in the southern city of Aden.