Kuwaiti Man Kidnapped in Bekaa

Gunmen have kidnapped a Kuwaiti national in the area of Hawsh al-Ghanam in the eastern Bekaa valley, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

NNA said Issam al-Houti, 52, 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 to his rented house in Hawsh al-Ghanam.

The assailants then kidnapped the men and sped away in their Mercedes 300 heading towards Baalbek.

A security official told Agence France Presse that "there are no signs the kidnapping was politically motivated."

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

NNA identified al-Houti’s wife as Fawziyeh Arafat from the town of Talya.

The Kuwaiti ambassador to Beirut Abdul Aal al-Qanaai told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the mission is contacting security and political authorities in Lebanon in an attempt to seek the man’s release.

Meanwhile, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) announced that Syrian Mohammed Mashhadani, who was kidnapped near Baalbek on Monday, was released without the payment of any ransom although his abductors had telephoned his family asking for a huge amount of money in return for his freedom.