Lebanese army soldier Ali al-Sayyed, who was beheaded by the terrorist groups after being captured during Arsal clashes, was laid to rest on Wednesday.

Lebanese army soldier Ali al-Sayyed, who was beheaded by the terrorist groups after being captured during Arsal clashes, was laid to rest on Wednesday.

Thousands of Akkar residents mourned the 29-year-old soldier and condemned the terrorist acts of the militant groups on the barrens of the northeastern town of Arsal, demanding the authorities to secure the release of the rest of the kidnapped army soldiers.

Sayyed's father, addressing the same crowd, said he hoped his son's blood would be "sacrificed for the sake of his [comrades'] freedom."

As residents fired shots in the air, the motorcade arrived in Fnaydeq and drove pass Sayyed's house where his family is scheduled to receive condolences for seven days.

The funeral procession for Sayyed drew thousands of northerners into the streets of Qalamoun, Mhammara and Fnaydeq, with many firing guns into the air, before he was laid to rest in his Akkar hometown.

Sayyed's relatives carried his coffin on their shoulders, white and wrapped in a Lebanese flag, while weeping women, also carrying Lebanese flags, headed the funeral procession.

During prayers on Sayyed’s body at the town’s mosque, a military personnel representing Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji said the blood of Sayyed protected Lebanon from terrorism.

“The martyr saw Lebanon, from its south to the north, from its mountains to its shore, as his home,” he said, surrounded by the thousands who had flooded the small streets of Fnaydeq where buildings were adorned with pictures of Sayyed in his military uniform.

“Terrorists were mistaken when they thought that using such horrific ways to kill him ... would terrorize the Army and the Lebanese people because this barbaric manner only made us more committed and stronger to eliminate this phenomenon,” he said.

Sayyed’s father, Adnan, thanked the Lebanese for standing in solidarity with his family, saying his son was Lebanon’s martyr.

“He is no longer Ali Sayyed. He is Ali Lebanon now. I forgot my pain today because of the support I saw from Lebanon, from Akkar to Beirut,” he said.