Naharnet

Baalbek Resident Seifeddine Freed after Arsal Abduction

Baalbek resident Hussein Seifeddine was freed Sunday by his captors after he was abducted last week from a shop in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.

“He is now on his way to his home in the town of Hawsh al-Rafeqa in Baalbek,” state-run National News Agency reported in the evening.

It noted that he was released “without any ransom” and that he was handed over to Arsal mayor Saadeddine Kranbi.

On Saturday, As Safir newspaper reported that Seifeddine's captors who belong to the Islamic State group had demanded “$150,000 and three trucks loaded with food and relief aid in return for his release.”

It noted however that the residents of Arsal were not willing to pay any ransom.

Seifeddine was kidnapped on Monday from a shop owned by members of the Ezzeddine family.

Around 30 Syrian youths were abducted in retaliation to his abduction but were released in recent days.

The border town of Arsal hosts thousands of refugees who fled the conflict in Syria.

Militants from the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria branch, and the Islamic State are entrenched in the town's outskirts. In August 2014, they stormed the town and engaged in bloody battles with the Lebanese army.

The situation is still volatile in the town's outskirts amid near-daily clashes between the army and the militants.

Y.R.


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