Let Nazih Al-Turk be the last victim!!! The Syrian “Zubaida” planned and implemented… and Ashrafieh is in the “eye of danger”

The last thing he wrote on Facebook was in February, on the fourteenth of February: “I celebrated Valentine’s Day with my wife with family and friends until the morning.” Two lovers were: Nazih Ramez al-Turk and Heba Omar Bey Salam, who lived in Achrafieh, in the Sioufi area… Details, details. As for the final truth, a Syrian worker, who was entrusted with the house and its residents, killed (along with two assistants) Nazih and almost killed Heba. Another story of death at the hands of strangers, supposedly a sister.

Oh God, for these repeated “deaths”, moving from one neighborhood to the second to the third to the fourth in exhausted Beirut – and Ashrafieh has its largest share of this spectacle of death. Is it a coincidence that the heroes of successive crimes are Syrian men and women? Honestly, we no longer know how all of this happens while the criminals, and those who have criminal genes, remain running around and having fun! The day before yesterday, the House of “Turk” was the scapegoat for this security laxity in the country. The man is honest and seated.

The children, Muhammad, Malek, and Malda, were born outside the country. The mother, Heba, takes care of her husband and loves him just as he loves her. They requested a domestic worker from the maids office, ATS group, whose phone number is: 79/316451. They signed the contract with the office on the sixteenth of last March under the title “Contract of Pledge and Commitment.” According to this pledge, Zubaida Saleh Al-Salem, a Syrian national, became the housekeeper of the Al-Turk family for a month, subject to renewal, in exchange for a salary of 400 US dollars, provided that she worked six days and had a day off on the seventh day.

Before the end of the month, on the fifteenth day, on March 31st, the Syrian Zubaida, with the help of two Syrians, killed Nazih, and his wife Hiba from “Kharum Al-Shabak” survived. The killer and her two assistants fled. News spread: an incident shook the Achrafieh area. Did the news end there? Is there anyone who protects the living – who die over and over again in a short day – from the renegades who wreak havoc, subversion, murder and fraud in a crumbling capital? Is there a question: Where are the Beirut Municipality guards?

Another victim, Hassan Al-Asmi

Mutilation and killing

The Syrians in the country have become a heavy burden. This was said instead of several times. Many complained. Many were killed. Many were stolen. Many people bear witness to incidents that turn their hair gray. Two weeks ago, wherever a person wandered in the Achrafieh neighborhoods, he heard someone alerting him: “There is frequent paralysis in the streets and alleys. One of them, a resident of the Geitawi area, someone broke into her house – which is adjacent to many houses in a more popular neighborhood. I screamed a lot and he ran away. Her neighbors suffered. Car bowls. Car mirrors. Car contents…everything has become permissible for theft in the Achrafieh neighborhoods. All this, in light of the fact that the Beirut guards continue to suspend tasks that they carried out with live flesh, and in the end they were held responsible for carrying out what was not one of their tasks. They shortened the route and “sit” at home or in the municipal palace. The tasks of protecting the city and Achrafieh are supposed to be the responsibility of Internal Security. However, Achrafieh MP Ghassan Hasbani grew poetry on his tongue as he demanded the security of Achrafieh and Beirut. Yesterday, he expressed in a tweet: We place the heinous crime of Achrafieh in the charge of the Minister of the Interior, whose responsibilities include the Internal Security Forces and Public Security. A crime like this cannot go unpunished. It must not be repeated. Hasbani said what he said. But have you heard the interior? We doubt.

We called again on the number of the office that brought the Syrian “housekeeper” to the Turk’s house. The line is closed. The Syndicate of Owners of Domestic Workers Recruitment Offices in Lebanon said that it is not licensed. But, what about the dozens and dozens of others who advertise on social media pages about providing Syrian maids on a monthly basis? The union’s answer is clear: “People should be careful not to deal or communicate with fake offices that may deal with them illegally, and make sure that the office has a license from the Ministry of Labor to avoid falling into the prohibited.” It is advice, is it enough? Are citizens supposed to recite the Our Father and the Hail Mary or pray “O God, You are the Most Pardoning and Most Generous and You love to pardon, so pardon me” to protect themselves from calamity?

The phenomenon of workers’ insurance offices is countless. Are you worried about the isolation? We are isolated from you. Offices on “Qafa Min Yashil” provide their services. It is enough for the Minister of the Interior to open his Facebook account to find dozens of offices operating – until proven otherwise – without a license.

They caught one

Where is Zubaida?

Yesterday, prayers were performed over the body of Nazih al-Turk in Khashoggi Mosque. What about killers? What about the Syrian worker Zubaida (born in 1990) from the town of Buqurs? Did you run away? How easy crime has become in our country and escape easier! Zubaida came from the city of Buqurs, located in the Euphrates Valley, in the western part of the Euphrates River. It is a city said to be ancient. She came to Lebanon with millions of others, and it became necessary for them to return to where they came from. There are those who place responsibility for those who entered Lebanon on a political group, ignoring the responsibility of those who stand on the border and facilitate the entry and exit of Syrians to and from Lebanon. So why are those who leave allowed to return? What about loose borders? What about the lost security in the country? Where are the security forces that are supposed to watch over?

Beirut City Governor, Judge Marwan Abboud, is not listening. He follows daily developments in the capital, Beirut. He has repeatedly sounded the alarm, announcing to “Call of the Nation” that Beirut has become an open city with camps on the side of camps that are now filled with more displaced Syrians than Palestinians.

There are streets in Beirut where Syrians rent houses at exorbitant prices that are unaffordable to the Lebanese. This is what made the people of Beirut, especially the people of poor neighborhoods, unable to find housing, so they were forced to leave Beirut. Native citizens are moving away from the capital in favor of displaced Syrians. More than that, certain sectors are no longer in the hands of the Lebanese and the Lebanese, including vegetable trade, ready-made food stores, food distribution, and hair salons. The rents of shops in Beirut have increased greatly and are no longer affordable for the Lebanese. I can say that the Lebanese are now unemployed. The level of safety at night in Beirut has decreased. “All of this is the result of the collapse of state institutions.”

The Beirut Municipality, of course, heard about the murder of Nazih al-Turk. The governor undoubtedly felt extremely bitter, as he was the one who repeatedly warned of “what is coming” if security continues unjustly. But, what is in his hand? The matter is supposed to be in the hands of the Minister of Interior first and the military forces specifically. The Beirut Municipality had previously taken a decision to have the municipal police descend on the ground and arrest the perpetrators, infiltrators, and tamperers, based on a mandate from the Interior Ministry to all municipalities in Lebanon, stipulating that the municipal guard and municipal police must assist the security services in dealing with the file of the displaced, in terms of counting their number and housing, and in terms of setting up night checkpoints to prevent crossing. Bicycles, especially since a large number of them do not have identification papers and their bicycles are stolen, and they travel on them at night, engaging in robbery and drugs. The Guard Regiment previously arrested some of them who were heavily armed and in possession of drugs, and they were handed over to the security services. The municipality suffered martyrs and disabilities occurred among the guards. In the end, when a Syrian died trying to escape, they stopped the municipal guard. It is as if treatment in Lebanon has a rule: he hit me, cried, preceded me, and complained.

What then?

Perhaps we have to ask: Who is next? Whoever will pay the price for this massive surrender of a country that if we call it incapable and reckless will be unfair to it. Today, Achrafieh is in danger again. So what’s the next step to stop the torrent of cheap death from insatiable strangers?

Nawal Nasr – Call of the Nation