Saudi citizen kidnapped in Lebanon capital

AFP | Beirut                                                               

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Saudi citizen has been kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said Monday, adding the security forces were investigating the case that affects relations with the kingdom.

"We have been following since yesterday with the intelligence services of the Internal Security Forces the issue of the kidnapping of a Saudi citizen in Beirut," Mawlawi said on Twitter.

"What happened affects Lebanon's relations with its brothers, and the perpetrators will be severely punished," he said, without revealing other details.

Kidnappings of Arab or foreign nationals in Lebanon have been rare in the past few years.

Mawlawi said he was in close contact with the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari, regarding the incident.

A senior Lebanese security source told AFP that, based on preliminary information, the Saudi was kidnapped by unidentified assailants dressed as security personnel in a four-wheel drive vehicle on Beirut's waterfront, where he had been in a restaurant.

According to Saudi television channel Al-Ekhbariya, the kidnappers had demanded a ransom.

The Saudi embassy in Beirut said on Twitter it had received a message from the family of a citizen who had lost contact with him on Sunday.

The last similar incident occurred in July 2022, when a Saudi national was abducted on arrival at Beirut airport.

Saudi Arabia restored its ambassador to Beirut in April 2022, just over five months after recalling him amid a diplomatic crisis pitting Lebanon against several Gulf monarchies.

Relations between Beirut and the Gulf Arab states had become strained in recent years due to the growing influence in Lebanon of the pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah.