ISF Officer Dies from Injuries Sustained in Sept. Clash with Estonians Kidnappers

Sergeant Major Elias Nasrallah, a member of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau who took part in a clash with the kidnappers of the seven Estonians, passed away on Friday from injuries sustained in the clash.

Born in 1981, he enlisted in the ISF in 2006 where he was rose to the rank of sergeant major in 2010.

Nasrallah will be laid to rest in his village of Firzil in Zahleh later on Sunday.

In September, the ISF killed two accomplices of the alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping of seven Estonians during clashes in the area of al-Bireh in Rashaya.

The National News Agency said the two men were killed after the ISF put iron barricades on a road between al-Bireh and Izza to stop their four-wheeler. But their vehicle veered off its course and hit a wall.

An exchange of gunfire ensued between the ISF and the armed men. The wanted criminals were killed while a Major and another member of the patrol were injured.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official told AFP that one of those who died in the shootout was Lebanese and the other was Syrian.

The media reports had said that the mastermind behind the kidnapping Wael Abbas was among the dead but later Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) identified the two as Abbas’ aide Mohammed Zarifi and Kanan Yassine.

The media reports said that security forces and the Lebanese army were coordinating efforts to find six other suspects.

The gang is allegedly linked to another network specialized in kidnapping foreigners in Iraq.

Later that month, two Intelligence Branch officers were injured when they were ambushed by armed men in the hunt for the kidnappers of the Estonians in the village of Jlala near Shtaura.

The seven Estonian cyclists were freed in Lebanon in July, almost four months after armed men abducted them as they entered the country on a bicycle tour from Syria. The abduction has not been officially claimed.