Jaafar's Abductors Ask for $1Million Ransom amid 'Nonstop Efforts' in Arsal to Release Him
The kidnappers of Hussein Kamel Jaafar, who have taken him to the town of Yabroud in Syria, have asked for a one-million-dollar ransom, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, sources denied to LBCI television that Arsal Municipality head Ali al-Hujairi had headed to the Syrian town of Yabroud to negotiate with the kidnappers, noting that there are "nonstop efforts" to release the abductee.
NNA said the demand for ransom came during a phone conversation between the Jaafar clan and the man whose kidnapping led to a wave of sectarian abductions that started last Sunday.
Yabroud is a Syrian town located in Reef Damascus and lies near Lebanon's eastern border.
Later Thursday, the Jaafar clan released Khaled Ahmed al-Hujairi in the area of Sahlat al-May in Hermel after kidnapping him in Shaat in the Bekaa valley's north.
Al-Hujairi, who hails from the northeastern town of Arsal, contacted the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch which sent patrols to the area and took him to Hermel's police station.
NNA said gunmen in a black GMC had abducted al-Hujairi while he was riding his pickup truck.
His release came after Voice of Lebanon radio VDL (93.3) said that the Jaafar clan decided to stop the kidnappings and release three out of ten Arsal residents that the clan's members had abducted.
NNA identified the trio as Khaled al-Hujairi and Hamza and Mustafa Ezzedine, saying they were freed in Baablek.
The decision came following a meeting the clan's elders held in Hermel.
Later on Thursday, the Jaafar clan released abductee Saud Rayed and handed him over to army intelligence agents in Hermel.
On the political front, a Mustaqbal Movement delegation headed by secretary-general Ahmed Hariri visited the residence of Sheikh Yassine Ali Hamad Jaafar in Ramlet al-Baida in Beirut, in the presence of Jaafar clan dignitaries.
“The visit does not aim to mediate the release of Hussein and the other abductees, but rather to pacify the situation on the streets, especially among the families of the Baalbek-Hermel region and Arsal,” Hariri said after the meeting.
“We came here to warn against strife, as the Mustaqbal Movement had warned a year ago that there is a plot to undermine Lebanon through a Sunni-Shiite strife,” Hariri added.
“We will not tolerate this, as a Sunni-Shiite strife would burn the country and all the post-civil war achievements in Lebanon,” Hariri went on to say.
For his part, Sheikh Yassine Jaafar said: “We want to start extinguishing the Sunni-Shiite strife.”
In revenge for Jaafar's kidnapping by unidentified assailants late Saturday, armed men from the clan have kidnapped several residents of Arsal. But they have released a few as a goodwill gesture.
The army has deployed in the Sharawneh district of Baalbek, where many members of the Jaafar clan live, searching homes for captives.
Arsal is a majority Sunni town whose inhabitants generally support the revolt in neighboring Syria, while most of the population of Hermel and Baalbek are Shiites.
The residents decried in a statement read by Arsal municipal chief Ali al-Hujairi the tit-for-tat kidnappings, asking the Jaafar clan to release the kidnapped men and to avoid acts that lead to strife.
They also called on the state to settle the case of the abducted men, who hail from Arsal, and punish the perpetrators.
over 11 years
Hezballah - Iran is the mother of all terrorism.You hypocrite scum typical of an extremist shia to have only on eye open, ashraf al nas
over 11 years
under the cover of the hezbollah umbrella, the chia have freedom to kidnap as they please
over 11 years
The whole of Jaafar is not worth 1$.
over 11 years
you are correct freedom4lebs the one million is for administrative, paperwork and tawabe3 amiriyeh.
over 11 years
September 12, 2002
Q:Tell me about Hezbollah. We hear about the terrorist group HA. What relation do they have to Syria?
GENERAL AOUN: HA is not a separate entity from Syria. It is under the Syrian operational control.
Q:: The so-called terrorist group is under the operational control of Syria?
AOUN: Yes, 100 percent, no question about that.
AOUN: Yes, since Lebanon was occupied by Syria, they extended the base of their terror operations to Lebanon, and they are stationed in Syria, but they act from the Lebanese territory.
over 11 years
September 12, 2002
Q:: All right. What happened and how did Syria get control of Lebanon? Lebanon was essentially a Christian country. How did they gain this dominance in the country?
AOUN: They first destabilized the country by opening the Syrian borders to the Palestinians and they came from Syria with the refugees who were stationed in Lebanon. Together they destabilized Lebanon and called it a civil war, but it was not a civil war.
Q: Then they came in to stop the so-called civil war that they engendered?
AOUN: They created it. That's what we call in military terminology "indirect strategy." You make a problem and then you come to solve it.
over 11 years
Hey it's my words
over 11 years
Tell us Karim since when has the shia been so against global Jihad? Please stop acting like its a sunni thing with your FSA rubbish, iran is a bigger sponsor of world terror, the way you talk is very funny, you act like you are a christian from texas
over 11 years
I think sovereignleb makes good point. There are extremists on all sides, even Christian. I think it would be accurate to say that the Assad regime has done more to hurt Christians in Lebanon than anyone else in recent years, which Hizbullah supports. The majority of the Shiites support Hizbullah. I think its also fair to say that there are many more Sunni extremists in the World and those guys with the big beards with not be helping us build any churches soon. However, I would say most Sunni don't support Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra. At the same time you have many Christians that would rather have US and Israeli agents in Lebanon who are only out to serve US and Israeli interests and keep Sunni and Shiites at each others throats to keep them away from US and Israel.
over 11 years
You see, none of us can keep external interests aside and extremism, because history says when something goes down, we all get on the "right side of the street" according to sect. Stop pointing fingers, and pray honest leaders rise. Lebanon for Lebanese wa bess!
over 11 years
we should ask the abductors to kidnap the whole clans of Jaafar, Zoaiter, and mokdad, and pay the kidnappers a ransom of 10Million to never release them.
over 11 years
I like the way you think!
over 11 years
Agreed.
over 11 years
Doesn’t it make you scratch your head when you hear people talk as if you only have two choices in life? If you say no to one to one fanatical organization then you are supporting the other fanatical organization. As if you can’t be against both fanatical organization and want to be able to co-exist with all fellow Lebanese and to each his own (religion or anything else).
over 11 years
Al Qaeda to the afghanis is like Hezballah to the shia, in some eyes terrorists in others eyes protectors. Stop being such a sectarian hypocrite you dirty excuse for a human
over 11 years
The Jews had terrorists before they got what they demanded from Britain. However, that's besides the point; Karim and BS thrower - you recycle the same argument over and over (FSA & Wahhabi terrorism) you sound like Nentenyahu. You guys recycle the same crap so much it makes me wonder if you guys change your underpants.
This jafar guy is part of a smuggling ring and he owes them money. Now, he got what he deserves!