“Sky News Arabia” learned that the Lebanese army brought in more military reinforcements, and used a helicopter and a reconnaissance plane to locate the fugitives, and worked to besiege a group of them.
Armed clashes took place in the aforementioned neighborhood between an army patrol and a number of wanted men, during which they carried out raids and arrested a drug trafficking gang.
Sources told Sky News Arabia, “The town of Bouday, northeast of Baalbek, announced the killing of its military son in the Lebanese army, Zine El Abidine Ajaj Shamas, after clashes with wanted men in the Al-Sharawneh neighborhood.”
While information was conflicting about the injury of the wanted Ali Zuaiter, nicknamed “Abu Basla”, and his escape from the area while being chased for hours by the army in the Al-Sharawneh neighborhood, security sources denied the information that talked about him being able to escape from the neighborhood, noting the spread of an audio message attributed to him stating that he managed Escape from the cordon imposed by the army on his hiding place, but it is “incorrect”.
The sources confirmed that the operation carried out by the army is continuing, and that “the rumors being spread aim to camouflage and thwart the military operation to facilitate the escape of the wanted person out of the region.”
Who is Abu Basra?
In light of the security operation carried out by the army in Baalbek and the conflicting information regarding the fate of drug dealer Zuaiter, Sky News Arabia learned from private sources that the wanted person was called “Abu Basla” because he sold drugs to his customers through a basket that he drops from the balcony of his house in the Al-Fanar area, specifically In the Zuaiter neighborhood north of Beirut, which is named after its residents from the Zuaiter family of Beqai origin.
According to the available information, Abu Basla “moved from Al-Zaitaria neighborhood to Al-Sharawneh neighborhood near Baalbek 5 years ago, and is considered one of the largest drug dealers in Lebanon and one of the most wanted.”
On Friday morning, the Lebanese army announced on its Twitter account that a force affiliated with it was carrying out raids in the Al-Sharawneh neighborhood.
The army confirmed that there had been an exchange of fire, which resulted in the injury of 5 soldiers, two of whom are in critical condition, as a result of being exposed to a rocket-propelled grenade during the clashes, and among the wanted men were also wounded.
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