Lebanese soldiers deployed in Kfar Shuba, southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, on June 9, 2023. (Credit: Nabil Ismail/File photo)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army announced on Saturday that it freed on Friday an Iraqi national who was kidnapped in Beirut nine days earlier.
The army freed the kidnapped person at the Lebanese-Syrian border on Friday and arrested three persons who were involved in kidnapping "M.G."
"After the intelligence directorate was informed that a person kidnapped the Iraqi national [M.G.] on Jan. 31 in Beirut, and as a result of follow-up and investigations, the intelligence directorate carried out a series of raid operations. As a result, it freed the kidnapped person on Feb. 9 at the Lebanese-Syrian borders and arrested three persons who were involved in the kidnapping," said the army's statement.
The army added that "an investigation has begun with the detainees" and that it is looking forward to "arresting the rest of those involved.”
The Lebanese Army rescued a kidnapped Saudi citizen in May 2023, freeing him from confinement near the Syrian-Lebanese border, and arrested his alleged kidnappers.
An Iraqi man kidnapped from Jounieh, Kesrouan governorate, in April 2023 was freed by the army two days after he was seized. A Syrian man was kidnapped in Aley the same month, shortly after he arrived in Lebanon from Dubai. Internal Security Forces later freed him.