BAALBEK, Lebanon: The Sawan family from Saadnayel called on the Lebanese state and Army to free their son Tuesday, after he was kidnapped by gunmen during the chaos that dominated the Bekaa valley Monday.
“All the news about the people of Saadnayel kidnapping anyone is fabricated,” said the village’s mayor in a press conference Tuesday noon. “We will not harm or kidnap anyone, but we will have a peaceful protest and block the road with our bodies to demand the quick release of our son Ayman.”
Sawan’s brother also spoke in the conference, and stressed that the Army is making good efforts toward freeing his kidnapped brother.
“Ayman was abducted by a gang,” he said, “and the kidnapping was not related to any debt or dues that my brother was engaged in.”
After the joint conference, in which a religious figure from Saadnayel also spoke, relatives and residents from the village blocked the road linking it to Taalabaya.
Sawan was kidnapped when four gunmen in a black Jeep Cherokee intercepted him and his brother near the village of Brital Monday afternoon, as they were driving to the eastern city of Baalbek.
As an instant reaction to the kidnapping, some men from Saadnayel kidnapped seven bus drivers passing through the road linking the village to Taalabaya. However, they were all released and the road was reopened late Monday in a goodwill gesture by the villagers, sources in the area said.
In parallel to Sawan’s abduction, three people from Arsal were still in the hands of kidnappers, who security sources said belonged to families of Army soldiers kidnapped by ISIS.
Hussein al-Fliti and Abdullah al-Breidy were reported kidnapped Sunday by armed members of the Masri family, whose member Ali Zayd al-Masri has been held by ISIS since the eruption of the Arsal clashes last month.
The Masri gunmen are using the two Arsal hostages as a bargaining chip against ISIS, announcing that their fate would reflect that of their relative.
Army Intelligence detained two men from the Masri family Monday over suspicion of participating in the abduction. However, the Masri family condemned the detention, saying it has nothing to do with the actions of gunmen.
Marwan Hujeiri another resident of Arsal, was also kidnapped over the weekend, but the party responsible for his kidnap has yet to be determined. Sources in the area told The Daily Star that armed members belonging to, or close to, the Medlej family was behind the action.
Sgt. Abbas Medlej was the second Lebanese soldier to be slaughtered by ISIS militants in less than two weeks after the killing of 1st Sgt. Ali al-Sayyed. ISIS announced that he was beheaded after trying to escape the capture. Since Medlej’s slaughter, sectarian tensions have erupted in Lebanon.
The tit-for-tat kidnappings have led to warnings against possible civil strife erupting in east Lebanon, with the country already on edge since the kidnapping of the 29 soldiers and policemen by militants during the Arsal clashes, of whom 22 are still held hostage.
However, security sources in the Bekaa said the families of the captured soldiers had nothing to do with the spate of kidnappings. “Rogue kidnapping gangs have taken advantage of the rising sectarian tensions and the prevailing chaos in the Bekaa to carry out kidnap-for-ransom operations,” the sources told The Daily Star.
Baalbek was calm Tuesday, after a turbulent Monday night where anonymous armed groups had closed off the highway near Baalbek’s southern entrance with vans and large vehicle, inspecting vehicles and requesting the passengers’ identification cards. Reminiscent of the civil-war days, the actions caused panic among the residents of the area, however the gunmen later evacuated and the road was cleared.
Media reports also cited an influx of armed groups in the nearby Al-Ain village. Lebanese authorities, working to cool rising tempers, arrested two suspects in the kidnappings as the Lebanese Army raided a number of houses in search for hostages.
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