Kidnapping: Syrian boy freed by the army, four remain in captivity

BEKAA — The Lebanese Army freed a 14-year old Syrian national in the hills of al-Khraybeh in the Bekaa on Tuesday night after he was kidnapped following gunfire between smugglers on Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, according to our regional correspondent and confirmed by the army.

Four other Syrians, were kidnapped in the same incident and remain in captivity.

Earlier on Tuesday, a shooting exchange with smugglers from the Syrian village of Serghaya, on the eastern border of Lebanon near Jurd al-Khraybeh, left two people dead, including a Lebanese man, and one person injured.

The Lebanese Zein Issa and another person of Syrian nationality were killed in the incident. Another man, identified as Fayez Issa, was also injured in the shooting and taken to Syria to be hospitalized.

Hours later, unidentified individuals kidnapped five people from the Al-Joujou family, including the teenager who was later freed, near the entrance to the city of Baalbek. According to reports relayed by our correspondent, the kidnapping was intended to pressure for the release of the wounded person Fayez Issa, who is said to be held against his will in Syria.

Following that, the Lebanese Army raided Hortaala (east of Baalbek) where it set up a number of checkpoints and searched cars inside the village and at the intersection of roads leading to the towns of al-Khoder and Brital.

In parallel, the army moved shepherds away from the Lebanese-Syrian border for fear of tensions and kidnappings that could occur against Lebanese citizens in the wake of the kidnapping of the five Syrian people.

The teenager who was freed by the army was identified as Jamal al-Joujou, a resident of the village of Douris whose mother is Lebanese.

The army deployed heavily at the border between Lebanon and Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on Dec. 8, 2024, in an effort to address problems related to the porous border, as part of the fight against smuggling and trafficking on Lebanon's northern and eastern borders.

In February and March, clashes related to smuggling operations broke out between Syrian security forces and Lebanese Shiite clan leaders living near the border.

The troops closed several illegal crossings in the Mashari al-Qaa region in mid-July. These routes were widely used for clandestine crossings, smuggling goods and fuel trafficking.

Reporting by our regional correspondent, Sarah Abdallah.