BEIRUT: Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and Army Commander General Jean Kahwagi Thursday denied reports that 13 Syrian opposition figures have been kidnapped in Lebanon.
Speaking to reporters before a Cabinet session, Charbel said “reports about the kidnapping of Syrians are untrue,” dismissing the charges as politically motivated.
Earlier, Kahwagi dismissed reports about the abduction of the 13 Syrians.
Kahwagi met President Michel Sleiman to brief him on the security situation in the country and “the army’s keenness on maintaining the security and safety of citizens and foreign residents,” according to a statement from Baabda Palace.
“It turned out that rumors and published reports about acts of kidnapping were not true, except the previous and known incidents of disappearance,” the statement quoted Kahwagi as saying.
The statement was referring to the kidnapping of three Syrian brothers from the Jassem family in February after one of them was seen in Beirut distributing flyers for anti-regime protests, and Shibli Aisamy, who disappeared in Lebanon in May.
Amer Charafeddine, Aisamy’s grandson, told The Daily Star Thursday that the family’s “trusted and unofficial sources” have said Aisamy was transferred to Syria after being kidnapped in Lebanon.
According to the Syrian opposition, at least 13 political dissidents have been kidnapped in Lebanon in the past few months.
“We have been informed of dozens of more cases involving Syrians in Lebanon who were kidnapped, beaten up or threatened only because they are opposed to the Syrian regime,” Omar Idlibi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition activist network, told AFP.
Sleiman said Wednesday Syria had “expressed regret” to Lebanon for repeated incursions into its territory that left at least one Lebanese dead. In remarks published by Al-Liwaa newspaper, Sleiman said Syrian promised to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Last month, Major General Ashraf Rifi, director general of the Internal Security Forces, told a parliamentary committee that he had evidence of the Syrian Embassy and Lebanese security officers’ complicity in the kidnapping of the Jassem brothers and Aisami’s disappearance. The Syrian Embassy has denied involvement.
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