Conflict Incident Report

The Internal Security Forces arrested a man Sunday after his wife was found “slaughtered” beside her infant son who was critically injured at their home in Nabatieh, security sources told The Daily Star.

The woman, said to be a Syrian refugee, was found dead beside her infant child who had knife wounds on his neck.

There were signs that a struggle occured before the crime, the sources said, due to the “chaotic” state the house was in.

The child was taken to the Nabih Berri governmental hospital in a critical condition.

Security forces, including ISF personnel, and a forensic doctor began inspecting the scene after the crime was discovered, according to the sources.

The victim’s husband, identified as M.K., was arrested by the ISF’s Information Branch as part of investigations into the crime.

The sources did not say what may have motivated the crime.

Similar crimes have occured recently, including the killing of a woman and her three-month-old infant child in Nabatieh on Jan. 11. They were reportedly stoned to death.

Between early December and the end of January this year, at least eight women died violently at the hands of men in Lebanon, with news of the quick succession of killings sparking protests.

According to figures collected by the gender-based violence NGO KAFA and Lebanon’s Support Civil Society Knowledge Center, last year saw the highest rate of femicide – the killing of a woman because of her gender – in Lebanon since the project started in 2010, with 17 victims of male violence.

The majority of these crimes were committed by family members.