Families of civil war missing hold Beirut demonstration

By Yusuf Hussein

BEIRUT (AA) – The families of people who disappeared during Lebanon’s devastating civil war (1975-1990) staged a protest in Beirut on Wednesday, demanding to know the fate of their missing loved ones.

Organized by Lebanon’s Committee for Families of the Kidnapped and Missing, the protest was held outside the headquarters of the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).

For almost three decades, many Lebanese families have sought information about relatives who went missing during the war, some of whom reportedly ended up in Israeli or Syrian prisons.

According to police records dating back to 1991, at least 17,000 Lebanese disappeared during the conflict, although this figure remains open to question.

Meanwhile, many of the groups accused of “disappearing” opponents during the war have since become part of Lebanon’s post-war political regime.