Suleiman Demands Release of Lebanese Fishermen Abducted by Syria in the North
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A 16-year-old Lebanese boy was shot and fatally wounded after gunmen opened fire on a fishing boat on the maritime border with Syria on Saturday, his father and a local official told Agence France Presse.
"My wife crossed the border into Syria and has seen his body in the morgue of Bassel Assad hospital" in the coastal city of Tartus, said Ahmad Hamad of his son Maher.
President Michel Suleiman condemned the kidnapping of three Lebanese fishermen after a Syrian fishing boat approached their vessel, opened fire at it, and then took it into Syrian territory.
Suleiman followed up with Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Security Forces leaders, demanding the Syrian authorities to release them immediately.
His stressed the need that the sovereignty of both countries be respected, urging both Lebanon and Syria to reinforce coordination in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
For his part, Miqati condemned the attack on Lebanese fishermen saying that the Lebanese-Syrian coordination committee should swiftly resolve the incident and bring back the kidnapped men.
According to the National News Agency the fishermen will be released on Saturday night as a result of the intensive contacts held between Lebanese and Syrian authorities.
Residents of the border town of al-Arida, where the fishermen come from, consequently blocked the international road leading to Syria by burning tyres in protest over the kidnapping.
MTV said that all border-crossings in northern Lebanon leading to Syria have been closed.
A local official, Ali Assad Khaled, mayor of the town of al-Arida, said brothers Fadi and Khaled Hamad and Maher were seized from their boat off the coast of northern Lebanon.
"Gunmen on another boat opened fire on the three Lebanese before seizing them and taking them off to Syria," he told AFP, adding that the incident was witnessed by other fishermen who insisted it took place in Lebanese waters.
Tensions have been high in recent months along the Lebanese-Syrian border over anti-regime protests taking place in Syria.
The Syrian army had repeatedly infiltrated Lebanese border territories in search of dissidents.
On December 2, 2011, dozens of terrified families fled their homes in Wadi Khaled after shooting from the Syrian side of the border wounded two men and a woman.
In recent months, thousands of people have fled into Lebanon from border districts of Syria as troops have resorted to mounting violence to crush anti-regime protests raging in the neighboring country since March.
21 January 2012, 10:21
13
i think the "resistance", a wholly owned subsidiary of the iranian revolutionary guard, should take out its rusty sacred weapons and fire a few long range shit1/2/3 missiles to liberate the Lebanese citizens.
21 January 2012, 11:25
39
Syrians are free to abduct our people, kill our people, mine our territory, violate our sovereignty, without our government raising an eye brow...
21 January 2012, 11:30
37
Syrian sissy army only attacks uanrmed civilians. Their own and others.
21 January 2012, 12:44
35
enemy from south and others form north and east so we still have the see, and good luck our goverment stay in syrian hugs.
21 January 2012, 12:46
13
What is the difference between israeli violations and syrian ones? I dont hear hassan nasrallah saying anything about this incident...hypocrates.
21 January 2012, 13:12
13
Where is jabalhabal, smelly demon and cookie retarded monster. I'm waiting for the filthy Zionist bla bla bla.....
21 January 2012, 13:51
23
If the Lebanese government can not complain, the people can... You can write to the UN, in masses.... Just do it, don't wait .....
21 January 2012, 13:55
12
Let's see what the puppet government is going to do about this? What?
Nothing?? Oh OK, they were Israeli spies. All is fine then, let's get on with our lives.
21 January 2012, 14:46
04
i guess M8 will come out with a good excuse to let the syrian do this...
21 January 2012, 14:46
00
i guess M8 will come out with a good excuse to let the syrian do this...
21 January 2012, 14:54
12
i think cookie has trouble remembering things.. anyway ill fix his/her mistakes
mine our territory, violate our sovereignty: israelis (you forgot syria as well.. they left in 2005?)
21 January 2012, 15:03
22
never mind new guy, for M8 supporters all that happened before 2005 doesn t exist, they prefer to forget, it is better for their present propaganda on sovereingty, gvt stealings, corruption ...they also forgot all what aoun said before that date.... they never participated in the state affairs before that date!
21 January 2012, 15:14
12
If you like to remind the M8 about history and events. Why don't you remind your friends in M14 who made them refugees in the Shouf area. Now, the same area boss ran on Jumblatt's list so he can be their leader again to a second doom. Do yourself a favor and stop making stupid comments. M8 and M14 are taking good care of themselves. When all of you are going to wake up and revolt, instead of cheering others.
21 January 2012, 15:22
32
jc= stop reminding the civil war... why not also refer to WWII?
since the end of the war my point is that M8 and M14 were governing, but M8 seems to forget that their leaders also didn t do anything for lebanon: they only blame M14 for all the problems of this country forgetting they are also to blame ,which is a very childish attitude, M8 attitude i should say...
21 January 2012, 16:01
41
Blame the boy's parents and the Lebanese Sunni crazies of Hariri for using under-age boys in their filthy work. If the filthy Al Mustaqbal and their leader the filthy Rafic Syria were not such low lives but instead fought the Syrian occupation like they have been pontificating day and night after the Syrians left Lebanon and when fighting was necessary, legal and temporary, then we would have been proud of the filthy low lives. Buy instead filthy Rafic Syria was busy filling his filthy pockets and handing the key of Beirut to the filthy Ghazi Loubnan, may their souls rot in hell both of them.
21 January 2012, 16:03
14
@ new guy speaking about Cookie I believe he / she is noone but Sweathing Demon. same ol M8 propaganda machine.
21 January 2012, 16:36
22
@Cookie_Jarbou3: Get your facts straight, Now that Syria feels the heat internally, it has placed land mines NOW in the Bekaa and Akkar borders. Also add to your list Iran which has been enjoying sending its revolutionary guards to train militias in our soil for over 30yrs.
21 January 2012, 19:37
14
What of the "resistance"---why aren't they defending our land against foreign aggressors?
21 January 2012, 21:29
23
Cookie stop hallucinating. When the taif wad signed by ALL LEBANESE leaders except Aoun the mad man. It was agreed that Syria will only remain for 3 yrs, also it was agreed that all militias desarm. What happens is that Syria stays 15 yrs, and then arrest and kill anyone who tells Syria to get out. All was perfect for Syria but then the idiot Bashar decided to kill Hariri, and that's when things blew up in their faces and they Had to leave Lebanon. That's the only reason why they left. They would have stayed another 15 years had they not done this mistake.
22 January 2012, 00:04
00
in3il2et bi israel bi2atlo libneniyeh n3el2et bi syria bi2atlo libneniyeh n3el2it bil china b2intehro libneniyeh ya haram 3a lebnein exated to go back home after 100 years :D:D:D
22 January 2012, 08:11
01
I keep on wondering why I bother comment and reply to Cooki and Co. then I realise that there is a social responsibility to do so.
Cooki ... YOU ARE AN IDIOT! aoun IS AN IDIOT! EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTS ANY CURRENT LEADER IN LEBANON IS A ROYAL IDIOT!
Wake up IDIOTS ... we are being raped by all our so called neighbors, protectors and supporters ... really "with friends like these who needs enemies"!
Stop supporting people and start supporting LEBANON for once.
IDIOTS
23 January 2012, 00:16
01
Dear Mr. Cookie_Monster
The problem after 1990 was not the Taif itself as it was never implemented correctly. The problem was the Syrians'occupation of Lebanon. What happened to the Christians after 1990s is not because of Taif but because what Syrians did to the Christian leadership (some where exiled and other -who refused to run away- where imprisoned).
As for your General, the wars he did in the 1988-1990 period were more disastrous than the wars between 1975 and 1987 combined.
As for Hariri, he tried to accommodate himself with the Syrian before 2005 so he can execute SOME of the projects he had in mind. Do you think given the choice, he would not have them leave the country?
But he tried to reason with them for the benefit of Lebanon; something that I, being a SUNNI from Beirut consider a mistake. The proof is that in the end, they simply killed him.
25 January 2012, 01:24
00
Did I insult you somehow Mr. Sensitive? Or are you simmply out of arguments?
tsk, tsk, tsk... so sad...
