Kahale holds funeral for man killed in clash with Hezbollah

Fadi Bejjani, a Kahale resident killed in the latest clash with Hezbollah members, was laid to rest Friday in his hometown.

Firecrackers rang out as some mourners fired in the air with the arrival of the casket, amid the presence of hundreds of people outside the church.

Hezbollah had on Thursday buried one of its members, who was also killed in the clash. The violence erupted after a truck carrying ammunition belonging to the group overturned on Kahale's main road.

Hundreds turned out for the funeral of Ahmed Ali Qassas in Beirut's southern suburb of Ghobeiry, a Hezbollah stronghold, an AFP photographer said, adding that heavy gunfire rang out during the procession.

Kahale mayor Abboud Abi Khalil told AFP that residents had surrounded the Hezbollah truck on Wednesday afternoon, demanding to know what was inside, before Hezbollah members escorting it opened fire and killed one of them.

Hezbollah said one of its members was shot and later died of his wounds.

"A number of armed men from the militias present in the area gathered and attacked" those escorting the truck, a Hezbollah statement said Wednesday.

"They began by throwing rocks, and then opened fire," the group added.

Hezbollah supporters posted pictures on social media showing Qassas dressed in military fatigues in Syria, where Hezbollah has been fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war that erupted in 2011.

The army confirmed in a statement on Thursday that two people had been killed and said ammunition had been seized from the truck.

"The cargo of the truck has been transported to a military center, and an investigation has been opened by the competent judicial authorities," it added.

The army said its troops had removed the truck at dawn and reopened the Beirut-Damascus road which Kahale residents had blocked in protest.

In August 2021, angry residents of a mainly Druze village in southern Lebanon stopped a truck carrying a rocket launcher used by Hezbollah in an attack on Israel, accusing the group of endangering civilian lives.