LAF conduct intense raids in Akkar in search of Syrian hostages, kidnappers

                
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) are conducting various raids throughout the Akkar area after 8 Alawite Syrians were kidnapped in Wadi Khaled on Monday in exchange for Lebanese national Mohammad Hussein al-Ahmad who is currently being held in Syria.             

Sources told LBCI that al-Ahmad was arrested on drug dealing charges and cannot be released before a sentence is issued in this regard.           

The Lebanese Army has been on a wide-range search for the Syrian hostages and their kidnappers since the onset of the operation while contacts remain open between both countries to contain the situation.                
Gunmen kidnapped eight men from Syria's Alawite minority as they  crossed into northern Lebanon on Monday, residents and security sources said, in a bid to gain the release of the Sunni Muslim man believed to be held by Syrian forces.    

Lebanon's frontier has increasingly been drawn into violence from neighboring Syria's civil war, now in its third year. Sectarian tensions have been on the rise in both countries, with Sunni Muslims in Lebanon supporting the largely Sunni revolt against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.    

Residents of Lebanon's northern border town of Wadi Khaled said gunmen attacked a bus carrying the men who came to Lebanon for work, beating the driver and kidnapping eight Alawites.    

They said the gunmen would release their hostages when al-Ahmad, who residents say is being held by Syrian forces, was freed.    

Shi'ites and other minorities have backed Assad, himself from the Alawite sect that is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.    

The Lebanese-Syrian border has grown increasingly tense with battles raging close to the frontier. Syrian forces have threatened to increase shelling on Lebanon's border areas due to the presence of rebel groups there.


REUTERS/LBCI