Miqati Says No Political Motive behind Abduction of Kuwaiti Citizen, Family Member Detained

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Monday that preliminary investigations indicate that the abduction of Kuwaiti national Issam Ibrahim Nasser al-Houti was not “politically motivated.”

“He wasn’t targeted because he is a Kuwaiti citizen,” Miqati told An Nahar newspaper.

He pointed out that the security agencies are exerting efforts to safely free al-Houti.

Information obtained by Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said that his brother-in-law was detained on Sunday on suspicion of involvement in the abduction.

VDL reported later that ISF arrested two people other people – Ayman Dalloul and a man from Fouani family – who hail from Ali al-Nahri in the Bekaa for suspected links to the abduction of al-Houti.

On Saturday, al-Houti, 52, was seized at gunpoint after his car was intercepted by unknown gunmen in the area of Hawsh al-Ghanam in the eastern Bekaa valley.

He was driving his red Kia, which carries the Qatari license plate 20/27880, from Talya when the armed men followed him and opened fire near his feet as soon as he arrived at his rented house in Hawsh al-Ghanam.

“We are following up the matter and contacts are ongoing with the Kuwaiti ambassador” Abdul-Al al-Qenaei, Miqati said in comments published in An Nahar.

As Safir newspaper reported that Hizbullah and AMAL movement lifted the political cover off the gang that kidnapped al-Houti.

The daily said that the army raided several towns in the Bekaa on Sunday night after the army intelligence succeeded in locating the whereabouts of the abductors.

Kuwait and several other Gulf states recently ordered their nationals to leave Lebanon in the face of threats, particularly against Saudis and Qataris, whose governments are staunch opponents of the Damascus regime.

Speaker Nabih Berri revealed on Sunday that some 50,000 Kuwaitis cancelled their flights to the country in light of the recent instability.

He told his Kuwaiti counterpart Jassem al-Kharafi during a phone conversation that Lebanon is eager to release al-Houti soon.