The driver of a van transporting Syrian stowaways died in Akkar on Thursday, September 28, during a chase with the army.
In a press release, the army announced that one of its patrols chased a minibus transporting several Syrian stowaways at dawn in an area known as Koubour al-Bid, on the border with Syria at Nahr el-Kabir.
When the patrol attempted to stop the bus, its driver “sped up instead of slowing down and tried to run over a soldier, whom he knocked down, before fleeing, despite warning shots fired in the air,” the press release said.
“The soldiers were subsequently forced to fire at the vehicle, aiming at the tires. As a result, the driver lost control over the van, which crashed into an electricity pylon, and instantly died,” the text of the army read.
According to the army, the driver was a Lebanese national, identified only by his initials, M. S., from the village of Machta Hammoud.
