Al-Meqdad Clan Says Abducted Syrian Rebel Spokesman, Forms Follow-Up Panel

Al-Meqdad clan on Friday announced that its military wing had kidnapped Abdullah al-Homsi, a spokesman for the so-called Syrian Revolution Coordination Committees, noting that it has formed a committee tasked with following up on the case of clan member Hassan al-Meqdad, who was abducted near Damascus on Tuesday.

The clan said Wednesday it kidnapped more than 20 Syrians and a Turkish national to try to secure Hassan’s release. The alleged Syrian rebel group that abducted Hassan had claimed that he is a Hizbullah sniper, but both Hizbullah and the clan have denied the claims.

“The clan has formed a committee tasked with following up on the case of its abducted son and the committee is responsible for pressing for his release,” the clan’s spokesman Maher al-Meqdad said at a press conference in the Beirut southern suburb of al-Rowais.

“Al-Meqdad clan reiterates what it had announced yesterday about the end of its military operations and accordingly the next steps will be announced later,” the spokesman added.

He noted that the clan rejects “attacks against public and private property and the blocking of roads, especially the airport road,” stressing “keenness on civil peace.”

“We reject any harm against the innocent Syrians, especially the workers who are trying to make a living, that’s why we have released all those who we managed to confirm their non-affiliation with the Free (Syrian) Army, and thus we have freed 21 people so far,” Maher al-Meqdad said.

And as he said that the clan “lifts the cover off any individual who might try to harm civil peace and the safety of its son in Syria,” he hoped “this humanitarian issue will be resolved as soon as possible.”

Addressing the rebel Free Syrian Army, the spokesman said: “They kidnapped Hassan thinking that he is a hefty catch and a Hizbullah official, but everyone knows that he is innocent … We hope you will cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross.”

The clan also distributed a video showing one of the Syrian abductees in its custody, who said that he was sent by a Qatari man to Lebanon to create armed groups in Beirut’s southern suburbs.