The group behind the weekend abduction of a Lebanese clan member in the east of the country is demanding a $1-million ransom for his release.
Hussein Kamel Jaafar, who was abducted late Saturday night on the outskirts of the Bekaa Valley town of Arsal, contacted his relatives and told them his abductors wanted a $1-million ransom to release him.
The hostage is reportedly being held in Syria, near the border with Lebanon.
Jaafar’s kidnapping triggered a series of counter-abductions carried out by his family and strained ties between the notorious Shiite Jaafar clan and their Sunni neighbors.
The Jaafar clan held a meeting Thursday to examine the request of the kidnappers, rumored to be linked to the armed Syrian opposition, and decide on responding to their demand.
Following the meeting, the clan said it will refrain from any further kidnappings as "it is clear that the reasons behind Jaafar's abduction are only financial."
Since the abduction of their kin, the Jaafars have abducted 10 Arsal residents in retaliation, releasing later five of them in a gesture of goodwill.
During a meeting in the northeastern town Wednesday, community leaders in Arsal affirmed the “historic ties” between their town and the Jaafar family, but lashed out at the clan for what they called shirking their responsibility to uphold civil peace.
Separately, unidentified assailants kidnapped Thursday a man while he was driving a pickup truck in Baalbek.
Khaled Ahmad Hujairi, from Arsal, was kidnapped by gunmen at around 10:30 a.m. while driving on the Hadath-Shaath road in Baalbek.
