The residents of the northeastern town of Arsal denied on Wednesday any link to the kidnapping of a man from the Jaafar clan, saying they were ready to hand over the suspect if he was a town resident.
“The kidnapping has nothing to do with Arsal residents,” said municipal chief Ali al-Hujairi at a press conference he held following a meeting of the town's residents.
“If there was proof of the involvement of any Arsal resident in the abduction then we would hand him over,” he said.
The residents decried in a statement read by al-Hujairi the tit-for-tat kidnappings, saying “Arsal is a Lebanese land and its residents are Lebanese so they enjoy the right of movement on all territories.”
It is the role of the armed forces to guarantee such a right, said the statement.
“Arsal residents ask the Jaafar clan to release the kidnapped men and express full readiness to reveal the fate of Hussein Kamel Jaafar,” it added.
The statement also urged the Jaafar clan to avoid acts that lead to strife and called on the state to settle the case of the kidnapped men and punish the perpetrators.
The wave of sectarian kidnappings began on Sunday when Jaafar was kidnapped by unidentified assailants, and reportedly taken into Syria.
In revenge, armed men from the clan have kidnapped several residents of Arsal. Two have been reportedly released.
On Tuesday, the army deployed in the Sharawneh district of Baalbek, where many members of the Jaafar clan live, searching homes for captives.
Arsal is a majority Sunni town whose inhabitants generally support the revolt in neighboring Syria, while most of the population of Hermel and Baalbek are Shiites.
Al-Hujairi said there was unconfirmed information that the number of kidnapped Arsal residents has reached nine.
