Eight Syrian Alawites Abducted from Minibus in Wadi Khaled

Eight Syrian Alawites were kidnapped on Monday from their minibus in the Lebanese border area of Wadi Khaled while en route to Syria, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

They were abducted by the members of two families who hail from Wadi Khaled in retaliation for the disappearance of their relative who went missing in Syria more than a year ago, NNA said.

Wadi Khaled residents abducted eight Alawite workers after stopping a minibus carrying 14 Syrian nationals at the Jisr Qmar border crossing in the Wadi Khaled area of al-Bqaiaa, the agency said.

It identified the abductees as Mohsen al-Ali, Hazem al-Hasan, Salman al-Ali, Tamim al-Hasan, Nassim Khabouri, Muslim Gharib, Abdo Gharib and Yamen Khabouri.

The Lebanese army sent its troops to search for the hostages, the agency added.

Earlier on Monday, LBCI television said “the family of Fheid al-Ahmed abducted eight Syrian Alawite workers from a minbus in Wadi Khaled to swap them for their son who is being held in Syria.”

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera put the number of Syrian abductees at five, noting that they belong to the same family.

It said al-Ahmed telephoned his family on Sunday to inform them that he is being held by Syrian security services.

For its part, LBCI said the clans and mayors of Wadi Khaled held a meeting to discuss releasing the hostages and avoiding a possible escalation.

Meanwhile, a security official told Agence France Presse that unknown attackers kidnapped nine Syrian Alawites after they crossed into Lebanon by bus.

The assailants seized the group "shortly after their bus crossed the Syrian-Lebanese border via the Jisr Qmar crossing into the Wadi Khaled area of north Lebanon," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Women and children were among the group," the official added, without giving any further details.

Later on Monday, al-Hisheh Municipality chief Dahham al-Nayef said “the Syrians held in the town by al-Ahmed family are guests, not hostages.”

He said the motive behind the abduction was “the belief of Hussein Fahd al-Ahmed's family that the relatives of some of the Syrian abductees played a certain role in the abduction of their son Mohammed Hussein Fahd al-Ahmed more than a year ago.”

According to al-Nayef, al-Ahmed was handed over to Syrian authorities after a blackmail attempt.

The municipal chief revealed that efforts were underway to resolve the issue, calling on the Lebanese state to “play its role and mediate with the Syrian authorities to release al-Ahmed.”

He said most of the Syrian abductees hail from the Homs neighborhood of al-Nazha.

Two years into a spiraling war in neighboring Syria, sectarian tensions have flared up in Lebanon.

Frequent sectarian clashes have raged in the flashpoint city of Tripoli, where Alawite fighters have battled armed members of the Sunni community.

Last week, a wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings hit the Bekaa region, pitting Shiites from the Jaafar clan and Sunnis from the town of Arsal.