An overturned car after an abduction in the Bekaa. (Courtesy of: Sarah Abdallah)
BEIRUT — One suspect was killed, and a second suspect, along with a Lebanese soldier, were left wounded Sunday night in the Bekaa, during a kidnapping, the army announced Monday.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the army said it had "conducted searches in the village of Brital and its surroundings during the search operations for citizen Michel Makhoul," who had been kidnapped Sunday.
“The kidnappers opened fire on the soldiers, one of whom was slightly injured. A suspect of Syrian nationality was killed, while another suspect was injured,” the statement said.
Three other people were arrested, the army added.
"Two cars, as well as weapons of war and ammunition, were seized," concluded the statement, noting that an investigation had been opened.
Michel Makhoul was briefly kidnapped while in his car on Sunday and the army's intelligence services enabled his release on the same day, an army spokesperson and L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the Bekaa reported.
The car of Makhoul's kidnappers was overturned near the locality of Khoder in Baalbek, in the Bekaa. The car contained Makhoul's identity papers, L'Orient's correspondent reported.
"The army conducted raids to pressure the kidnappers, who then abandoned Makhoul in the town of Taybeh, where he was found by the military," a security source told L’Orient Today.
Along with the economic crisis, the security situation in the country has deteriorated significantly over the past three years. The Lebanese state struggles to impose its authority in Bekaa where weapons are widely available and kidnappings and bloody clashes between the military and armed gangs are commonplace.
Reporting contributed by Sarah Abdallah.