Exclusive sources told LBCI that the release of Sleiman Ahmad who was kidnapped yesterday will take place this evening or Sunday morning at last. For his part, Interior Minister Marwan    

Tension had risen in the north on Sunday after Sleiman Ahmad, aka “Abou al-Rousse”, was kidnapped on Saturday night in Kwaykhat where he was forced out of a van driven by Mohammad Mehrez al-Nahili who was beaten on the head with a war pistol.         

Residents pointed out that Sleiman Ahmad was in the Syrian city of Talkalakh.      

In retaliation for the abduction, residents of Wadi Khaled kidnapped 7 people including a trader, Hikmat Youssef. They also abducted two Syrian nationals from the Syrian village of Baayoun while they were on a family visit in Wadi Khaled. However they were released shortly after the abduction.                    

The residents blocked roads with burning tires and set up ID checkpoints, setting a 4-hour deadline for Ahmad’s release; otherwise, they threatened to block roads all the way to Tripoli.  

Wadi Khaled’s officials and MPs held a meeting on Sunday afternoon urging the Lebanese state to follow up on the abduction of Sleiman Ahmad and guarantee his release. They also called on the region’s residents to remain calm.       

The meeting’s attendees stressed that they were not responsible for any statement made here and there, adding that those kidnapped in response to the abduction of Sleiman Ahmad will be “their guests” until Sleiman’s release.      

Charbel told LBCI that the kidnapping of Ahmad in Akkar is not a sectarian abduction, adding that what is happening is an extension to the Syrian crisis.