Lebanon arrests 'prankster' for threatening to behead children

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIRUT: Lebanese police have arrested a man who staged a sick prank by filming himself threatening to behead three Syrian refugee children left in his care a security official told AFP Saturday.

The video which was posted on YouTube Friday and shared widely shows the three terrified children crying as a man standing behind a camera waves a knife and asks: 'Whom do we behead first'

Adding to the pathos of the incident the crying children respond by pointing at each other.

A security official said the video proved to be a 'sick joke' and that the children had been left in the man's care by their mother his neighbor while she went to buy groceries.

'The intelligence branch of the Internal Security Forces has detained the man who made the video' said the police official adding that the incident had taken place in the southern Nabatiyeh province.

While describing it as 'an isolated incident' the official said the video was yet another sign of the effect of the Syrian war on Lebanese society.

Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees and fighting related to the conflict frequently breaks out in the tiny country.

'We call on everyone to make sure we maintain our awareness but of course this video shows the depth of the impact of the Syrian crisis' said the police official.