BAALBEK, Lebanon: Tensions soared in the Bekaa Valley Saturday after Nusra Front said it killed policeman Ali Bazzal, one of the servicemen it was holding hostage, as residents in his village held a prominent Arsal figure responsible for their son’s murder.
Hours after Nusra Front announced that it executed Bazzal, posting a picture of a man with a machine gun firing shots toward the policemen who was seen kneeling down, residents of Bazzalieh kidnapped three men near the town around midnight.
The men were released in the early hours of the morning and were identified as Mohammad Hujeiri, Mohammad Atrash and Bassam Hujeiri. They were traveling through the road linking Bazzalieh and Labweh when they were abducted.
The kidnappers shot and wounded a Syrian man who accompanied the three. He was transferred to a Baalbek hospital.
“Residents here are very angry and the men erected checkpoints at the entrances of the town and inspected people and their vehicles,” the head of the federation for eastern municipalities, Khalil al-Bazzal, told The Daily Star.
“No one should try to come to Bazzalieh until the situation calms down.”
Bazzal said the roads, which were blocked in the predominantly Shiite village quickly after the Nusra announcement, were soon reopened.
He said residents held “Mustafa Hujeiri and his family responsible for the murder of their son,” adding that residents from the nearby town of Arsal were unwelcome.
“All roads are open for all citizens except for Arsal residents,” he said.
Mustafa Hujeiri is wanted by authorities for belonging to Nusra Front, but he has been following up on the negotiations between the government and the Qatari mediator, who was tasked by Doha to help release 25 policemen and soldiers held by Nusra and ISIS.
The militants took the servicemen hostage during clashes with the Army in the northeastern town of Arsal in August. Both groups have demanded the release of prisoners in Lebanese and Syrian prisons but the government has not agreed to their demands.
Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda-affiliate, had previously killed one soldier and ISIS has so far executed two.
Last month, the Nusra Front threatened to kill Bazzal unless the government became serious about negotiations, but Hujeiri and Health Minister Wael Abu Faour were able to postpone the execution then.
Tensions between the Sunni-majority Arsal and neighboring Shiite villages in the Bekaa have been running high over the crisis in Syria as well as Hezbollah’s role in the conflict alongside regime troops.
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