Headless Body of Arsal Man Found after 'Decapitation by IS'

The body of a Arsal resident was found decapitated on Sunday in the outskirts of the northeastern border town, more than two months after he was abducted by Islamic State militants.

“The headless corpse of Lebanese citizen Younis al-Hujeiri, who was kidnapped more than two months ago, has been discovered in Arsal's outskirts,” al-Jadeed television reported.

State-run National News Agency for its part said Hujeri's family “saw on social networking websites footage of an IS member carrying their son's severed head.”

It said the man was nabbed on January 19 from the Wadi Hmeid area, east of Arsal, at the hands of an armed group.

The militants took him to the town's outskirts and his fate remained unknown until Sunday, the agency added.

Earlier this month, two Syrian gunmen shot dead Lebanese citizen Ali Ezzeddine outside his home in Arsal before speeding away in their car.

Later that day, members of Ezzeddine's family killed senior Islamic State official Abu Omar al-Tartousi, a Syrian national, in retaliation.

Such incidents have become frequent in Arsal in recent years.

The border town hosts thousands of refugees who fled the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Militants from the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria branch, and the Islamic State are entrenched in the town's outskirts. In August 2014, they stormed the town and engaged in bloody battles with the Lebanese army.

The situation is still volatile in the town's outskirts amid near-daily clashes between the army and the militants.

Y.R.