Naharnet

Army Frees in Arsal Man Kidnapped in Syria's Qalamoun

The abductee Mahmoud Samir Hleihel was freed Sunday in the Bekaa border town of Arsal, after he was kidnapped three months ago in Syria.

“Army intelligence agents in northern Bekaa managed to liberate Mahmoud Samir Hleihel in a mountainous area,” state-run National News Agency reported.

LBCI television said Hleihel was freed in the Arsal region.

“Hleihel was abducted in February at the hands of armed men in the Syrian region of Qalamoun,” NNA said.

At the time, his family received a phone call from a Syrian number, during which the kidnappers said he was being held in the Syrian town of Yabrud.

The family had said that the man, a Baalbek-based merchant, was transporting a quantity of flour to Qalamoun when he went missing.

“Hleihel has arrived in the town of al-Labweh and he's on his way to his house in Baalbek,” NNA said on Sunday evening, noting that the man looked “extremely frail.”

On Thursday, the army deployed in several areas in the Bekaa region at the start of an unprecedented security plan that was approved by cabinet in a bid to restore law and order in several regions, especially northern Bekaa and the city of Tripoli.

Y.R.


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