A soldier has allegedly defected from the Lebanese Army to join ISIS, according to a video posted online by jihadists late Saturday, making him the third soldier to do so in as many days.
Abed-Elkader Akoumi, from the town of Fneideq in Lebanon's northern Akkar distrcit, is the second one from the town to announce his defection over the weekend, after the Nusra Front clailmed Friday that Mohammad Antar had left the military to its ranks.
On Friday, Abdallah Shehadeh, a local of the northern city of Tripoli, also reportedly defected from the Army to join Nusra.
In a statement released Saturday night, the Army said that Akoumi had fled from the Army on July 21. The soldier’s case was referred to the military court in the beginning of October due to the lengthy period of his absence.
In a video that sparked heavy buzz on social media Saturday, Akoumi is filmed saying that the Army’s treatment of the residents of Tripoli and its mass detention of Sunnis lies at the heart of his decision to leave its ranks and join ISIS.
