BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces have arrested a Lebanese taxi driver for killing Rebecca Dykes, a British woman who worked at the British Embassy in Beirut and was found dead on the Metn Expressway on Saturday Morning.
The arrest was confirmed by the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) correspondent. “The Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces managed to arrest the killer. He was identified as Tarek H., a taxi driver,” said the news agency.
The agency quoted its correspondent as saying that “Tareq had picked up Dykes on Friday evening from Beirut’s Gemmayzeh district where she was on a night out. He drove her from Ashrafieh to the Metn Expressway where he attempted to rape her. He then strangled her with a rope and threw her body away.”
The NNA correspondent said that the Information Branch managed to identify and arrest the killer — who admitted to the crime — after following his car on the Traffic Management Center’s road monitoring cameras between Ashrafieh and Nahr Al-Mot area.
According to a source quoted by Reuters, “the motive was purely criminal, not political.”
Dykes had worked at the British Embassy for the Department for International Development, her LinkedIn page said.
British ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter said on Sunday: “The whole embassy is deeply shocked, saddened by this news.”
Dykes’ family said in a statement issued by Britain’s Foreign Ministry: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. We are doing all we can to understand what happened.”
Killer of British diplomat in Lebanon arrested
Killer of British diplomat in Lebanon arrested
US, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye urge restraint in Gaza after Miami talks
- Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire
MIAMI: The US was joined Saturday by Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in urging parties in the Gaza ceasefire to uphold their obligations and exercise restraint, the chief US envoy said after talks in Miami.
Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10.
“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,” said a statement posted by Witkoff on X.
Their meeting came amid continuing strains on the agreement.
Gaza’s civil defense said six people were killed Friday in Israeli shelling of a shelter. That brought to 400 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect.
Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the truce, with the military reporting of its three soldiers killed in the territory since October.
Saturday’s statement cited progress yielded in the first stage of the peace agreement, including expanded humanitarian assistance, return of hostage bodies, partial force withdrawals and a reduction in hostilities.
It called for “the near-term establishment and operationalization” of a transitional administration which is due to happen in the second phase of the agreement, and said consultations would continue in the coming weeks over its implementation.
Under the deal’s terms, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilization force, but also urged the disarmament of Hamas, warning the process would unravel unless that happened.
