Military personnel deployed on a road leading to the village of Arsal in the Bekaa Valley in 2014. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
The Lebanese Army on Monday searched the homes of convicts and suspects in the al-Sharawneh neighborhood of Baalbeck, in the Bekaa, in relation to the kidnapping of two Syrian teenagers, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region reported.
The two Syrian teenagers, Mouhannad and his brother Ghaleb, aged 13 and 15, were kidnapped several weeks ago on their way home from school.
To conduct their search operations, the army sealed the al-Sharawneh neighborhood at 5 a.m.
On Oct. 31, a sit-in was organized by residents of Baalbeck and the families of the two teenagers to demand their release. The children's uncle, Mohammad Mcheik, said his nephews' kidnappers called from a foreign number, demanded a ransom of $350,000 and threatened to sell the hostages' organs.
Security incidents are frequent in Baalbeck — a area that is partially beyond the control of the state and where armed groups are rife.
Additional reporting by Sarah Abdallah.