Report: Lebanese Kidnapped near Douma Released

The Free Syrian Army released on Saturday a Lebanese man who was abducted more than two weeks ago, media reports said.

Al-Mayadeen news network reported that the FSA freed 72-year-old Mahmoud Mohammed Fakih.

Fakih was reportedly kidnapped from the Syrian area of Otaya near the Damascus suburb of Douma.

LBCI said that the family of Fakih was negotiation his release with a group calling itself Liwa al-Islam.

However, the family denied the report.

Liwa al-Islam had claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on the National Security headquarters in Damascus that killed Defense Minister Daoud Rajha, President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, head of Syria's crisis cell General Hassan Turkmani and National Security chief General Hisham Ikhtiyar.

Abductions have fuelled fears of Syria-related violence spilling over into Lebanon, where al-Meqdad clan kidnapped around 20 Syrians and a Turkish national earlier this month in retaliation for the abduction of a family member by a Syrian rebel group.

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped on May 22 by the rebel Free Syrian Army in the northern province of Aleppo while on their way home from a pilgrimage to Iran.

One of the abductees, Hussein Ali Omar, was released last week by his kidnappers, who said the man was set free in response to a request by the Committee of Muslim Scholars.

Several other kidnapping incidents happened in the country in retaliation to the abduction of the Lebanese citizens.

Lebanon's political parties are deeply divided over the Syrian revolt, with the Western-backed opposition supporting the uprising and the March 8 alliance backing President Bashar Assad’s government.