Screenshot of a CCTV video showing heavily armed men kidnapping a person.
BEIRUT — The Israeli army claimed the abduction of a man from Batroun during the early hours of Friday in a post shared on the army radio's X account on Saturday evening. "The 13th naval unit arrested a Hezbollah member near a maritime science center," the army claimed in the statement. "We will capture key members everywhere, and we will succeed."
Security camera footage shows a man being led down the street by at least 15 soldiers, which local media reported earlier to be naval commandos, in combat gear, their guns drawn. The kidnapping took place in Batroun, a coastal city on the Mediterranean between Jbeil and Tripoli in northern Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities are currently conducting an investigation into the abduction to determine the details surrounding the incident, a first since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah on Oct. 8, 2023. The victim's identity remains unconfirmed. In the video, which caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh said had been verified, the captive is wearing civilian clothes.
Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited an Israeli official as saying that Israeli Navy SEALs had captured Imad Amhaz, a senior member of Hezbollah's naval force in an operation in northern Lebanon. The official said Amhaz was detained in order to "interrogate him and learn more about Hezbollah's naval operations."
Outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke with Lebanese Army Chief General Joseph Aoun "about the kidnapping of Lebanese Imad Amhaz in Batroun," a Serail statement said in the evening. He also held talks with UNIFIL officials and asked Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to submit an urgent complaint to the U.N. Security Council about the operation.
Sea captain, affiliation unknown
Reports indicate that the abductee is a sea captain, but that he does not belong to the Lebanese Army. Hamieh told al-Jadeed that the kidnapped man was a "captain of civilian and commercial ships."
The man had rented a studio apartment on the second floor of a building on the seafront just north of Batroun, close to the city's Institute of Maritime Science and Technology, where he was attending classes. Contacted by L'Orient Today, the institute declined to comment.
Ahmad Baydoun, researcher and analyst of conflict environments, was able to geolocate the place where the footage was recorded and published the coordinates on X, showing that the building is located around 300 meters from the institute and half a kilometer north of Batroun's old souk.
Patrols from the Lebanese Army, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) and security agencies were deployed at the scene. All security cameras in the vicinity were recovered by law enforcement agencies for investigation purposes, as were those located on the road used by the kidnappers to travel from the beach to the apartment and back. The security forces also heard testimonies from residents of the building and neighboring buildings.
Resident of the Aley district
"Preliminary information suggests that the kidnapped individual is a Hezbollah member," MTV reported. According to an ID card of the presumed target, the victim is reportedly from Qmatiye, a village in the Aley district recently hit by Israeli strikes targeting apartments or vehicles linked to Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah and the Internal Security Forces were not immediately available for comment.
Some media outlets, along with Hamieh, speculated that U.N. peacekeepers may have been involved in the abduction. However, a UNIFIL spokesperson denied the reports in a brief statement saying, "UNIFIL has not been involved in facilitating any kidnapping or other violation of Lebanese sovereignty. Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk."
Reporting contributed by our correspondent in the north, Michel Hallak.
