Mother of Lebanese Hostage in Syria Seeks General Security Chief's Help

The mother of a Lebanese men held hostage by the Syrian regime urged political leaders on Saturday to exert efforts to release her son Hassan Srour and bring him back to Lebanon.

“I particularly ask General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim to work on this case, as he has helped in retrieving the body of my other son from Syria before,” Amina Turki al-Abboud Srour told the National News Agency.

“My son was never involved in any religious or political movement and he only went to Syria to bring his brother Hussein back to Lebanon,” she told LBCI television.

Srour explained that her deceased son Hussein was the one active with the Islamist fighters.

Syrian authorities handed over Lebanon in December seven bodies of Salafists killed in an ambush by regime troops in Tall Kalakh in November, among them the body of Hussein Srour.

While there is still discrepancy on the number of fighters who infiltrated Tall Kalakh to fight alongside the rebels, media reports have said that several of them sought refuge with the rebel Free Syrian Army while around three others were arrested by regime troops and will be tried in Damascus.

Ibrahim thanked Amina Srour on her trust and promised to meet with her soon to follow up on this issue.

Meanwhile, the family of another missing Lebanese in Syria Ahmed Kifah al-Rifai also urged Ibrahim on Saturday evening to play a bigger role in following up on the case, the NNA reported.

"Our son was never involved in any Islamist organization," the family said, adding that they only rely on the legal authority in the state to bring him back to Lebanon.