Troops exhumed the remains of 25 bodies from a mass grave near a former Syrian military base in eastern Lebanon yesterday, while an official said 12 more buried bodies - most believed to be Lebanese soldiers - were removed from a grave near Beirut recently for DNA testing.
The identities of the bodies were not immediately known, but one security official said some appeared to be Lebanese soldiers killed during an October 1990 Syrian military offensive that defeated Christian-commanded Lebanese Army units of then interim Lebanese prime minister Michael Aoun.
Residents of the eastern Bekaa Valley town of Anjar, near the former headquarters of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, found the grave containing the 25 bodies last week, the official said. One body was in a Lebanese soldier's uniform.
The remains, including bones, teeth and skulls, were taken from the mass grave on the Nabi Azir hilltop position formerly occupied by Syrian soldiers, nearly three-quarters of a mile from the former headquarters of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon.
Lebanese soldiers barred journalists today from approaching the grave site, only allowing photographers to take pictures of them refilling the earth pit with bulldozers after their work was done.
Journalists saw troops collecting the remains in at least 12 black bags. The remains were then taken for DNA testing, said the official.
The Anjar headquarters was notorious for the arrest and alleged torture of prisoners. Local people are believed to have known for years of the grave's existence but declined to speak out because of the presence of Syrian troops, who were based in Lebanon since the early stages of the 1975-90 civil war.
But Syria vacated the headquarters on April 25 as it removed its soldiers and ended its 29-year domination of Lebanon after the February 14 assassination of ex-Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.
Many Lebanese accuse Syria of having a role in Hariri's killing and a United Nations investigation has implicated several Syrian officials in the slaying. Syria denies any involvement. Another security official said the Lebanese army dug out the remains of at least 12 bodies from the Defence Ministry compound in Yarze, near Beirut, in mid-November.
Digging operations are continuing in Anjar and at least one other location in the mountains east of Beirut. Most of the bodies exhumed from Yarze are believed to belong to Lebanese soldiers killed during the Syrian military offensive in 1990 that ousted Aoun, but they were not identified at the time because DNA testing technology did not then exist. Some 61 Lebanese soldiers are still missing from Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, which Syria entered in 1976 ostensibly as a stabilising force.