Victims of Istanbul attack buried

Associated Press

BEIRUT

Lebanon on Tuesday buried its citizens who perished in the Istanbul nightclub massacre on New Year’s Day amid an outpouring of grief that has for days dominated local TV channels and discussions among the country’s politicians.

Lebanon – a Mediterranean nation of 5 million people – lost three nationals in the carnage in Turkey. The attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, killed 39. Another six Lebanese nationals were wounded, according to local media.

Funerals were also held in Jordan and in Israel, which lost a citizen each in the assault.

One of Lebanon’s victims Rita Chami, 26, had lost her mother to cancer only last July. She had taken time out of her university studies to care for her.

The other two – Haykal Mousallem, 34, and Elias Wardini, 26 – were both personal fitness trainers in Beirut. Wardini was engaged to be married; Mousallem got married four months ago. Both of their partners survived the attack.

Lebanon, accustomed to tragedy in the aftermath of its civil war and occasional bouts of violence, has treated its Istanbul victims as national heroes, their coffins draped in the Lebanese flag as they were brought back home.

In Beirut’s Ashrafieh neighborhood, grieving relatives and friends set off fireworks Tuesday as residents bid Wardini farewell. His funeral was attended by some of the country’s leading Christian politicians. Mousallem was buried in his native Chouf district, outside the Lebanese capital. Chami will be buried Thursday.

The New Year’s attack on Istanbul’s Reina club also touched others across the Middle East.

The IS said it targeted Christian revelers in response to Turkish military operations against the militant group in northern Syria – but most of the dead were foreign tourists from Muslim countries.