‘See what the Syrians did’: The aftermath of a massacre in Lebanon

October 1990: ‘They took some of these men from their homes. They had surrendered. They made them undress. Then they murdered them,’ a nurse told Robert Fisk

Soldiers loyal to the then Lebanese president, Elias Hrawi, take up a position in Beirut in 1990 (AFP via Getty Images)

We had to cut the ropes from their hands after the bodies were brought here,” the nurse said with a voice of suppressed rage. “Most of the soldiers were found by the Red Cross in the forest. There are 80 corpses here. This did not happen during the fighting.”

She led the way down the steps of Baabda General Hospital to a fetid, fly-infested basement, and there, on the floor and stacked inside glass refrigerators, were dozens of young men, most of them shot in the face or chest, many dressed only in underpants.

Several of the bodies – some of them in a state of advanced decomposition because there has been no electricity to work the hospital’s freezer system – were still in the uniform of the Lebanese army. Most had wounds under their chins or on their faces. Blood had long congealed on the heads of the almost naked men.