By
Rakan al-Fakih
NORTHERN
BEKAA, Lebanon: Tensions were high on Lebanon’s northeastern border with Syria
as armed clashes broke out between Lebanese who support the Syrian regime and
the Syrian opposition inside the neighboring country over the weekend,
following a string of retaliatory kidnapping between the two groups.
A
security source told The Daily Star that pro-Syrian regime Lebanese were
holding 60 Syrian men hostage by Sunday in the hopes of exchanging them for
three Lebanese who were kidnapped by members of the Syrian opposition last
week.
Armed
clashes broke out Saturday pitting Lebanese supporters of President Bashar
Assad in the Syrian villages of Safsafa and Hamam against members of Syria’s
opposition from the villages of Abu Houri and the outskirts of the Syrian
village of Rabla. The incident was sparked when armed opposition members
attempted to kidnap more Lebanese to boost their negotiating position in a
potential swap.
Abbas
Mohammad al-Hiq, from Hermel, was wounded during the shootout while several
Syrians were wounded and at least one Syrian was killed, according to the
source.
Lebanese
Khodr Jaafar, Abdullah Zein and Ahmad Medlej were kidnapped Thursday in the
Syrian town of Zeita, 15 kilometers north of Hermel, by Syrian opposition
members who belong to a clan which accused the three men of facilitating the
arrest of a rebel by Syrian intelligence agents. Zeita is a small border town
of mainly Lebanese inhabitants which lies in Syrian territory.
Hours
later and in response to the kidnapping, relatives of Jaafar abducted 13 Syrian
men from Hermel and Zeita, in an attempt to swap them for Khodr and Zein and
Medlej. In the three days following, dozens of other Syrians were abducted.
Speaking
to The Daily Star Sunday, Ali Jaafar, a prominent figure from the Jaafar clan,
said that the clan’s kidnapping of the Syrians was not politically motivated.
He
said it was only aimed at securing the release of the abducted Lebanese who he
said were kidnapped by a Syrian armed group headed by a member of the Rahil
family.
“Prominent
figures from clans on both sides of the borders are pursuing negotiations for a
swap,” Jaafar told The Daily Star. “No results have been reached so far
although there is kind of a positive climate.”
The
porous border region of northern Bekaa enjoyed relative calm when a peace plan
for Syria brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan was put into effect in
April.
Annan’s
six-point plan includes a cease-fire, deployment of observers and free access
for journalists and humanitarian aid.
Tensions
in northerrn Bekaa flared late last week after Lebanese citizen Halima Karnabi
was killed by gunfire from the Syrian Army in the northern Bekaa region of
Masharih al-Qaa. The Syrian Army shot Karnabi in the head.
Meanwhile
the atmosphere in the border villages of Haweik, Fadlieh, Safsafa, Hamam and
Hosh Sayyed Ali, all inside Syrian territory, was tense over the weekend. Along
with Zeita, these villages are home for around 5,000 Lebanese, most of whom,
like residents of Hermel, are supporters of Assad. On the other side, most
residents of the town of Arsal and Masharih al-Qaa, also in Northern Bekaa,
back Syria’s uprising and provide shelter for Syrian refugees who fled their
homes following the crackdown on the uprising against Assad, which began in
March 2011.
Sunday,
March 8 groups held a ceremony in memory of former Hermel MP Ali Jaafar in
Sahlat al-Maa in the district, a visit that was viewed as a response to a trip
made by March 14 MPs to the border town of Arsal the same day.
Separately, Khaled
Ezzeddine, from Arsal, was kidnapped in the Bekaa village of Nabi Othman
Saturday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/May-14/173303-rivalry-on-syria-crisis-spurs-kidnappings.ashx#axzz1upf1xgxm
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