Izzat Nweilati, in a paper published by the journal of the Syrian Human Rights Committee, describes the event as the result of a miscommunication, when Lebanese forces at Dahr al-Wahsh did not receive cease-fire orders from Michel Aoun and so attacked Syrian troops who were crossing a landmine field.[3] With 150 of their own killed, the Syrians retaliated against the Lebanese for deviating against the "rules of war".[3] Newilati, who indicates that then Defense Minister of Lebanon Albert Mansour described the event as a "double massacre", states that the corpses he found a day after the event had been "shot in the head while their hands were tied to their backs", most unclothed.[3]