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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanon to identify exhumed bodies |
| 2005-11-18 |
| The Lebanese military has begun DNA testing to identify 13 bodies unearthed in a military compound in Yarze, a town overlooking the capital Beirut. Twelve of the 13 bodies were in military uniform, possibly indicating they were soldiers serving under then General Michel Aoun in October 1990. The thirteenth body was burned beyond recognition. Aoun had been engaged in a seven-month âwar of liberationâ against Syriaâs presence in Lebanon when the Syrian offensive overran his forces and he was forced to flee the presidential palace. The families of 30 Lebanese soldiers, who were listed as missing in action (MIA) during the Syrian offensive, were asked to submit to the tests by the Ministry of Defence. The militaryâs request, however, has created controversy and division among the families of the missing, many of whom say their sons are alive in detention centres in Syria. Marlene Nakhoul, sister of a missing soldier, told Aljazeera.net her family decided to do the DNA test, but only to prove that he is not among the exhumed bodies. "My brother is still alive," she said. "We're just doing the test to prove that none of the bodies belongs to my brother and to tell the government there are still soldiers locked up in Syrian prisons," she said, adding that a former prisoner in Syria said he saw her brother in 1993. But Violette Nassif, mother of soldier Johnny Nassif, refused to take the test. "I saw my son," she said about her one-time visit to see her son in a Syrian prison in the early 1990s. "And I have kept the visiting card that proves I had visited him." |
| Posted by:Fred |