IS Releases Arsal Residents Kidnapped Two Days Ago

Islamic State militants released on Thursday two men they had kidnapped in the northeastern border town of Arsal two days ago, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Ali Riyad Ezzeddine and Mustafa Hassan Zaarour were kidnapped in Arsal's outskirts on Tuesday, NNA said without giving further details.

Reports had said that the two Arsal residents were abducted over a money-related dispute with a Syrian merchant.

A day earlier, assailants from the IS abducted Younes al-Hujeiri, another Arsal resident who owns a stone quarry, in the area of Wadi Hmeid.

His fate is still unknown.

IS and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front militants are hiding in the mountains on the porous border area between Lebanon and Syria.

In August, they overran Arsal and engaged in bloody gunbattles with the Lebanese army.

The fighters took with them hostages from the military and police and later executed four of them.

G.K.

H.K.