Three Dead at Lebanese Wedding After Crazed Guest Objects to Ataaba Performance

Four people have been killed in a brawl that turned a wedding into a bloody gunfight in Lebanon’s ancient city of Baalbek on Sunday.

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Local and international news agencies have reported that a wedding in the Lebanese city had shortly turned into an exchange of fire between members of the two tribes present in the wedding killing the wedding singer, his brother and the man who began the firing.

The problems are believed to have began when the wedding singer was performing an Ataaba song, a traditional musical form performed at weddings, and one of the audience thought it is being sung just for him. But the singer told him “Sit down, [the song] is not for you” when the latter raised his gun and started firing at the singer who was killed on the spot.

Translaiton: “The song that sparked the fight in Baalbek. Taleb Zeiter, one of those who were killed thought the song is being performed against his honor, but the singer Ali Yassin explained to him that it was not for him saying: “Sit down, the song is not for you” which prompted Zeiter to kill the singer before he was killed by the singer’s brother who was also killed.”

The “Bloody wedding”, as people referred to it shocked Lebanon and the news has soon spread all over the news with more people jumping on the story.

Translation: “Yesterday, an Ataaba song that has praisings on the prophet and another person was sung in a wedding in Baalbek and caused the killing of the singer, his brother and another person. The story is that three people were killed over a fight on an Ataaba song but the real story is that weapons are common and anger won’t be controlled by law.”

The story has, in fact, sparked a debate over gun laws in Lebanon all over again after years of campaigns to put an end to it.

While there is no legal right under Lebanese law for anyone on Lebanese territory to bear arms, the government has been criticized for the standards they use to permit or prevent anyone from getting a license to have a weapon.

While there is no legal right under Lebanese law for anyone on Lebanese territory to bear arms, the government has been criticized for the standards they use to permit or prevent anyone from getting a license to have a weapon.

Lately, numbers of people being killed in fights and by other armed citizens have been noticeably rising, prompting more people to join the conversation and demand more strict laws regarding the ownership of weapons for individuals.

Translation: “A wedding in Baalbek turns to a bloody gunfight because of an Ataaba song that prompted a man to kill the singer and his brother! Yes, this is what happens in a country where everyone owns a gun you should expect a crime every second.”