BEIRUT: Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi said on Sunday that a transparent Lebanese and international investigation should be launched into the death of Irish soldier Sean Rooney, who was shot dead while on a UN peacekeeping mission in the country.
In his Sunday sermon, Al-Rahi said that the time has come for the state to “put its hand on every unlawful and illegal weapon” and implement UN Resolution 1701 “in letter and spirit.”
The implementation of the resolution, which intended to resolve the 2006 war, has so far has been “selective, arbitrary, and restricted by the decision of de facto forces,” he added.
Al-Rahi’s remarks came as UNIFIL Command received the body of 23-year-old Rooney, who was shot dead by unknown assailants on Wednesday evening when the vehicle he was driving came under fire in an area outside the scope of UNIFIL operations in southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border.
The victim was hit by a bullet in the head from one out of seven rounds fired at the vehicle.
His body was examined by a Lebanese forensic doctor at Hammoud Hospital in Sidon before it was handed to UNIFIL Command for direct transport to Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers held a memorial at Beirut airport for the Irish soldier.
At the memorial, UN peacekeepers stood by Rooney’s coffin after it arrived from the hospital.
His body was then transferred to a military carrier to be taken back to Ireland.
Rooney was on his way to Beirut airport on Wednesday with other soldiers in the vehicle to leave for home on holiday when the attack took place.
Arab governments denounced the killing.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for a transparent investigation into the circumstances of the attack.
It declared the Kingdom’s total rejection of all forms of violence and its support for the UNIFIL mission.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry stressed the need to ensure the security and safety of missions taking part in peacekeeping tasks of the UN in order to protect the role assigned to them by the Security Council.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry demanded that an investigation be opened into the circumstances of the attack and that the perpetrators be held accountable.
Investigations into the incident in the coastal town of Al-Aqabiya are ongoing.
Two soldiers have recovered from wounds sustained in the attack and a third soldier is still undergoing hospital treatment due to the severity of his injuries.
No accusation has been brought against any perpetrator and no arrests have been made.
The Lebanese Army Intelligence Directorate, which is in charge of the investigation from the Lebanese side, has summoned many of the witnesses who were present in the area when the UNIFIL vehicle was besieged.
A security source told Arab News that some people in the area had been in hiding since the attack.
While UNIFIL has kept quiet about the course of its own investigation, it was reported that Hezbollah was conducting a separate probe into the killing.
A civilian source following the investigations expressed his surprise at the “extreme secrecy” of the crime scene, adding that the reason for the banning of media from the area had “nothing to do with Hezbollah.”
Parallel to the Al-Aqabiya incident, a dispute escalated between residents of the border town of Rmeish and Hezbollah over the party’s move to bulldoze land and build facilities on areas owned by residents outside the town, extending to the southern borders.
The municipality of Rmeish in the Bint Jbeil region received a letter signed by the heirs of real estate in a farm adjacent to the borders of the town of Aita Al-Shaab.
The signatories to the petition, who own title deeds in the names of their grandfathers and fathers dating back decades, complained that Hezbollah operatives bulldozed their properties, set up installations and prevented residents from approaching.
The complainants said that last week, members of Green Without Borders, an association affiliated with Hezbollah, trespassed on their real estate and cut down perennial oak trees.
The Hezbollah affiliates asked landowners to show documents proving their ownership and prevented them from approaching, the complainants added.
Rmeish Mayor Elie Shoufani said that the Green Without Borders association worked to build a road at the border and encroach on property belonging to residents of Rmeish.
The works took place in full view of the Lebanese army operating in an area subject to Resolution 1701 in the south despite the objection and anger of the residents, said the mayor.
In his Sunday sermon, Patriarch Al-Rahi expressed his objections to the events in Rmeish.
He said: “Influential parties in the region and elements of the de facto forces affiliated with one of the parties in the area are carrying out these transgressions.”
He called on security services to “remove the violations immediately, withdraw the external elements from the town, and put an end to all practices and infringements that harm coexistence.”
Ali Al-Amin, editor-in-chief of the Janoubia website — which specializes in southern Lebanon news — told Arab News that the Green Without Borders association, which had previously presented itself as a civil association, was relaunching as a “resistance group.”
He added that Hezbollah “wanted to send a message to the outside” that it remained in firm control of southern Lebanon.
