An FSA fighter fires at Syrian regime troops At least four out of 11 Lebanese who were kidnapped in Syria in May were killed Wednesday in an air raid, LBC1 has reported. A member of the Shiite Al-Meqdad family member said to LBCI: \"All 11 Lebanese pilgrims and their kidnapper Abu Ibrahim have been killed in the Aazaz airstrike.\"
The Al Jadeed TV station, citing information it had obtained, had earlier said that only four pilgrims were killed when a Mig-29 jet struck Azaz in Aleppo, northwest Syria.
It added that seven pilgrims were in good health and two of them were still under the wreckage.
It also said that 15 of the kidnappers were killed in the raid.
At least two individuals, including Abu Ibrahim, one of the kidnappers, were wounded in the attack, Al-Jadeed said.
A member of the Al-Meqdad military wing however told LBC1: \"We may take escalatory measures depending on the latest developments. We have very broad goals and we advise others against testing us. We are capable of reaching regional targets. We can reach Aley, Tripoli, and Iqlim al-Kharroub.\"
The 11 men were kidnapped in May in Syria shortly after crossing from Turkey. They were heading back to Lebanon after a pilgrimage to Iran.
In related developments, a large Lebanese Shiite clan said on Wednesday it has kidnapped at least 20 Syrians to try to secure the release of a family member abducted near Damascus this week.
“They were kidnapped because a member of our family was taken the day before yesterday in Syria,” family member Abu Ali al-Meqdad told AFP by telephone, adding that one of the Syrians was injured.
The Free Syrian Army in turn threatened Hezbollah with a \"fierce response\" to the kidnapping, threatening to execute members of the Shiite party.
The Al-Meqdad family instead proposed a prisoner swap facilitated through the Red Cross and gave a 48 hour deadline before “things go out of control”.
According to Arab television reports, a Syrian rebel group claimed it had kidnapped Hassan al-Meqdad on Monday, accusing him of being a sniper and a member of Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
“He is neither a sniper nor a member of Hezbollah,” Abu Ali said. “All the accusations are a lie.”
“Our demand is not political, this is a humanitarian issue,” he added.
Lebanese television station Al-Mayadeen ran an interview with a member of the Meqdad clan who threatened “further action until Hassan is freed. All Syrians in Lebanon are a legitimate target.”
The television channel also broadcast a video of two of those purportedly kidnapped, surrounded by armed men.
A high-ranking security official told AFP he had no immediate comment on the matter. “We are working on it,” he said.
Ahmed Shlash, a Syrian MP in Lebanon to negotiate their release, told Al-Mayadeen: “Syrians coming to work in Lebanon should not be dragged into a sectarian struggle. Young people coming to work in Lebanon have nothing to do with politics.”
Saudi Arabia has called on all it citizens to leave Lebanon immediately, Riyadh’s ambassador to Lebanon said Wednesday.
Ambassador Ali Awad al-Asiri, who is in Mecca, told the National News Agency that he requested that all Saudi nationals in Lebanon leave the country after “the threats have become open.”
Asiri was referring to threats earlier in the day by the Meqdad clan, which said it could take action against Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey over the kidnapping of one its members earlier this week in Syria.
The family held Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia responsible for the kidnappings given their backing to Syrian rebels. The family also held the Lebanese government responsible for not putting enough efforts to release their kin.
Violence in neighbouring Syria has spilled over into Lebanon in the form of cross-border shootings, shelling by the Syrian army, tit-for-tat kidnappings and sectarian clashes between groups which are divided over the revolt.
Syrian rebel groups have frequently accused Hezbollah -- which is closely allied with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad -- of interfering in the violence, though the group has consistently denied this.
Syria occupied Lebanon militarily and politically for nearly three decades until 2005, when its troops were forced to pull out under international pressure after the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri that year.
Seven years after Syria withdrew from Lebanon, the country\'s political forces remain sharply divided over their neighbour.
The political advisor to the Free Syrian Army, Bassan Dada said in an interview with Al Jadeed TV on August 15 that the issue of Hezbollah sending fighters to Syria will not be tolerated and any fighter sent may be executed.
“The kidnapped Syrians [in Lebanon] are refugees and not from the Free Syrian Army,” he stated.
He also said that “Hassan Meqdad who is taken as a hostage by the Free Syrian Army is one of Hezbollah’s members and worked for Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy Secretary General of Hezbollah.” He pointed out that the problem isno with Al Miqdad, but “the problem is between us and Hizbullah, which confirmed today it is a state inside the state,” asking them to “start thinking about the successive phase after the fall of the regime of Assad.
About Hezbollah denying that Meqdad was one if its members, Dada said: “His involvement in the case of assassinated president Rafiq Hariri has been denied before, as well as other topics related to the internal situation in Lebanon. The party may also deny the sun’s brightness.”
Dasa asked the Lebanese government to “take its responsibility and release the kidnapped Syrians.”
He said that “Hassan Meqdad admitted that he is a sniper in the field of intelligence for Hezbollah,” stressing that “we are not terrorists or as barbaric as the Hezbollah party.”
“Anyone who belongs to Hezbollah may admit he has been to Mars and not only that he is from the Free Syrian Army when under pressure,”
He stressed that “it is not in Al-Meqdad’s interest to be against the Syrian revolution because whoever is behind the kidnapping of the Syrians will not be able to cross Syria after the Syrian revolution’s victory,” adding, “we will not keep silent”.
In an interview with Al Mayadeen TV, Dada said he considered the Syrian revolution will \"not be limited to liberation of Syria, but also must liberate Lebanon from the Persian gang ruling it, and what Al Meqdad are doing is directly related to Hezbollah. We give the party and Najib Mikati’s government direct responsibility, and if Lebanon is an independant state then the state must act,” adding “the army’s leaders and its intelligence have become agents to the Syrian regime, and what happened today confirms this and that there is no state in Lebanon.”
Hatem Meqdad, a brother of the kidnapped Lebanese man allegedly a Hezbollah member, said in a press conference that “the Lebanese Red Cross will be the mediator between Al-Meqdad, the FSA and its supporting countries.”
He also revealed the kidnapping of three other Syrians, including the son of one of the political officials of the senior financiers of Al Shamaa and a senior FSA official, promising to show the video later.
The former Lebanese director of public security Maj Gen Jamil al Sayyed said on an interview to Al Mayadeen TV that “the Al-Meqdad tribe is bigger than the Free Syrian Army, and includes all parties that have fought with Turkey and France in the past”.
\"The FSA interferes in many Lebanese issues, and the Lebanese tribes are cooperating so the kidnapped Lebanese citizens must be released,\" he added
The Saudi Ambassador meanwhile told the NNA that he had also requested that all Saudi nationals not visit the country “given the current circumstances.”
He also denied any knowledge “of Saudi nationals having been kidnapped in Lebanon.”