Policeman slain by jihadis receives hero’s funeral

BAZZALIEH, Lebanon: It was a sad day in the otherwise idyllic Bekaa Valley village of Bazzalieh. Internal Security Forces 1st Sgt. Ali Bazzal, a son of the village, finally returned, but in a coffin.

Bazzal was among more than 30 policemen and Army soldiers kidnapped by ISIS and the Nusra Front during their brief invasion of Arsal last August. He was executed by the Nusra Front last December.

Residents of the village headed to the Hekmeh Hospital in Baalbek at noon to receive his body.

Locals and relatives showered Bazzal’s motorcade with rice and flowers as it reached the village around 1 p.m. Some opened fire in the air in expression of anger. Waiting for the body of his slain son, Ramez Bazzal broke down in tears as the casket arrived at the family home.

“Thank God my son is a martyr for the entire nation because he was defending Arsal [when he was captured] and he married [a woman] from Arsal,” Bazzal said. “We know every person who took part in killing Ali. The Hujeiri family has conspired against him and killed him, particularly [Sheikh] Mustafa Hujeiri,” he added, in reference to a controversial preacher from Arsal, better known as Abu Taqiye, who is sympathetic to the Nusra Front.

The Lebanese Army Thursday retrieved the body of 27-year-old Bazzal. An ISF detail gave the casket a special salute and the coffin, draped with a Lebanese flag and carried by security personnel, was taken to the village’s mosque for a funeral service before burial.

“You’re here to tell me goodbye, my son,” yelled Zeinab Bazzal, Ali’s bereaved mother, as dozens of women wept near the coffin.

Once she heard about his killing, Zeinab promised to receive his coffin celebrating as if it was his wedding ceremony. “Congratulations for your martyrdom, you’re a groom,” Zeinab said, before resting momentarily after becoming short of breath.

“Bid farewell to Ali, we will not see him again,” Zeinab said, addressing the women. “I will make Abu Taqiye drink from the same bitter cup we drank from, before I kill him with my hands,” she said.

Banners congratulating Bazzal on his martyrdom were on display throughout in the village. Hundreds of locals and ISF personnel took part in the funeral prayers.

Bazzal is survived by a wife and young daughter.

The Nusra Front and ISIS still hold 25 policemen and Lebanese soldiers hostage since a brief incursion into the northeastern border town of Arsal last August.

Negotiations to free the captives, held in Arsal’s outskirts, have reportedly stalled and their families are now holding an open-ended sit-in in Downtown Beirut to pressure the Lebanese government to hasten their release.

Taking part in the funeral was Hussein Youssef, the father of one of the captured servicemen who speaks on behalf of the families of all the captives. “We hope that handing over the body of martyr Ali to his family will lead to the return of all the other captives safely back home,” Youssef said during the funeral.