BEIRUT/BEKAA:
Syrian forces handed over a Lebanese man to the army Wednesday hours after they
kidnapped him from the Bekaa border town of Arsal, the town's mayor told The
Daily Star.
Lebanese
security forces told The Daily Star that Syrian forces entered Arsal’s environs
early Wednesday and snatched Mohammad Khaled Hujeiri.
“A
Syrian force infiltrated two kilometers into Lebanese territory and opened fire
at Mohammad Hujeiri. We are not sure what happened after that,” the mayor told
The Daily Star.
He
said the same Syrian force torched his farmhouse, which had been vacated over
the crisis in neighboring Syria, before it pulled out of the area.
The
opposition March 14 coalition held the government responsible for the Syrian
incursion, Hujeiri’s abduction and the torching of the mayor’s farmhouse.
“This
deliberate attack is [one in a series] by the Syrian regime, which has been
violating our sovereign territory east and north ... in the complete absence of
the Lebanese government, which disassociates itself from protecting unarmed
Lebanese and clearly allows those who ensure its survival to intervene in the
Syrian crisis,” March 14 said following its weekly meeting.
March
14 said the Future Movement-led coalition will coordinate a response to Syrian
violations through democratic means.
The
recent spur of kidnappings near Arsal began on May 14 when pro-Syrian regime
Lebanese took 60 Syrian men hostage in the hope of exchanging them for three
Lebanese who were kidnapped by members of the Syrian opposition a week earlier.
The
kidnappings were accompanied by armed clashes between the two sides.
Most cases have ended with
the release of hostages, though others are ongoing.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-13/176674-syrian-forces-kidnap-lebanese-man.ashx#axzz1xaZDFUkH
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