Halba
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Halba حلبا |
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country |  Lebanon |
| Governorate | North Governorate |
| District | Akkar District |
| Geography | |
  Halba
Location of Halba, Lebanon
|
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| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Elevation | 167 m (548 ft) |
Halba (Arabic: حلبا) is the capital of Akkar District in North Governorate, Lebanon, close to the border with Syria. It is located at around .
The population in Halba is Muslim Sunnite, Christian Greek Orthodox and Christian Maronites.
Halba is home to a Lebanese Red Cross First Aid Center.[1]
The village is now best known for the massacre that was committed by Sunni fundamentalist movements and fighters from the Future Movement Militia.
Documented Facts of the Halba Massacre:
Armed clashes erupted between the Lebanese Opposition and groups funded and controlled by the Future Movement the morning of May 7, 2008. The clashes came as a consequence to the government’s issuance of two decrees pertaining to the Lebanese Resistance.
According to a private investigation and to the official investigation conducted by the Lebanese authorities, a massacre was committed in Halba on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 5 p.m, after 48 hours of continuous and systematic aggression carried out by the Future Movement Militia, including field preparations that had started on Friday evening.
At 9:20 a.m. Saturday May 10, 2008, supporters of the Future Movement began burning tires and cutting off roads in Halba, the capital of the Akkar municipality in northern Lebanon. These actions were carried out in accordance with the request of the Future Movement and other allied groups, whom had called for a protest through loudspeakers roaming the streets. In addition, the call for protest was officially supported by the Mufti of Akkar (the highest Sunni Muslim Authority in that municipality) and was broadcast through the loudspeakers of several mosques in the region.
A group of armed men, identified as coordinators and supporters of the Future Movement militia, were witnessed raising posters of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, his son Parliament Member Saad-el-dine Hariri and current Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
At 10:20 a.m. the Future Movement militia without provocation opened fire on the Syrian Social Nationalist Party's (SSNP) Halba Headquarters, which at the time had 12 members of that party inside. The Future Movement gunmen were at their utmost readiness, well armed and well prepared to launch an aggressive attack, which bears evidence to the premeditated and carefully studied preparatory warfare measures they took well before the attack.
Our documents reveal the massing of civilians and fighters from the Future Movement militia after they had been directly incited by sectarian speeches extensively disseminated during the past days.
According to the Lebanese law, these public statements are considered acts of incitement that included sectarian language and sentiments against multiple Lebanese political factions, including the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
These speeches, which were all recorded, were delivered by the following individuals:
1. Mr Rasheed Kabbani, Mufti of the Lebanese Republic
2. MP Saadeddine Al Hariri
3. PM Fouad Siniora
4. Mr. Oussama Al Rifai, the Mufti's official representative in Akkar
5. A group of Dar Al-Fatwa religious figures who joined the protest in front of the SSNP Halba office the day of the Massacre
6. Former MP Khaled Al Daher
7. Members of the Future Movement, especially MP Ahmad Fatfat and Al Mustaqbal Newspaper's Editor-in-Chief, George Bekassini,
who made public statements.
The SSNP members inside the Halba office were not prepared to engage in the battle that was launched against their headquarters by the Future Movement militia, who used light, medium, and heavy weaponry, including rocket grenades that were used early in the battle, another proof that their attack was premeditated and carefully planned.
Due to the intense and concentrated rocket strikes, 11 SSNP members were injured.
In compliance with an agreement they reached with the Lebanese Army and other Lebanese security forces in the area, the SSNP members evacuated the building unarmed, in order to surrender their headquarters to the Lebanese Army, and awaited the Lebanese Red Cross ambulances to transport the injured.
Before the Lebanese Army arrived to the location, the Future Movement militiamen entered the external grounds of the SSNP’s headquarters and perpetrated the following documented acts:
1. The Future Movement militiamen shot the injured members of the SSNP, especially their legs, to prevent them from running
away.
2. The Future Movement militiamen hit the injured members of the SSNP on their heads with sticks, rocks and concrete blocks to
mutilate and disfigure their faces, in a clearly vindictive manner.
3. The Future Movement militiamen beat up the injured members of the SSNP, while yelling insults pertaining to the latter’s
sects and religious beliefs.
4. The Future Movement militiamen tortured and mutilated the injured members of the SSNP by burning their hands and feet.
5. The Future Movement militiamen tore off the clothes of the injured members of the SSNP to identify their religious
identities (Muslim or Christian) from their genitals (to see whether or not they were circumcised)—a practice commonly used
by fundamentalist groups such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan.
6. The Future Movement militiamen stamped on the heads of the injured members of the SSNP, and put their shoes in the mouths
of the injured, while filming themselves performing these acts using their mobile phones, in order to show off their
achievements.
7. The Future Movement militiamen executed the injured members of the SSNP by crushing their heads and shooting them at point
blank right before the arrival of the Lebanese Red Cross.
8. The Future Movement militiamen looted and destroyed the headquarters of the Lebanese Red Cross, which is located right
above the headquarters of the SSNP.
In addition, members of the Future Movement militia and other related groups pursued the wounded members of the SSNP who were transported to the Youssef Medical Hospital (owned by Mr. Saoud Youssef), as well as those who were transported to the Riad Rahhal Hospital. There, they beat up the injured members of the SSNP with the intention of killing them, and they inserted the tube of a fire extinguisher in the mouth of an injured member of the SSNP (Nasr Hmoudah) and opened it. As a result, Mr. Hmoudah suffocated and died. In addition, Mohammad Hmoudah, Abed Khodr Abdel Rahman, and Ammar Moussa were beaten before and after their arrival to the hospital, and while they were being transported there. The means that were used to torture them clearly showed the fundamentalist identity of their aggressors. The documented evidence, as well as interviews conducted with the injured, prove that members of the Lebanese Security Forces were implicated in the crime, either by their direct participation in the acts of torture, or by their unwillingness to perform their duty and prevent these acts. The evidence also proves that the same applies to the medical personnel that were present in both the Youssef Medical Hospital and the Riad Rahhal Hospital, where the medical personnel did not act according to their professional and moral duties toward the patients. These facts are under investigation by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
(Information from www.halbamassacre.info )
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