Conflict Incident Report

he Internal Security Forces arrested two men suspected of conducting a kidnapping earlier this month. Lebanese nationals B.Z. and Aa.Z., born in 1998 and 1995 respectively, were reportedly arrested by a patrol of the Information Branch. The victim was identified as Syrian national M.A., born in 1996. M.A.’s family told the ISF that he had left the town of Jezzine to travel to Syria’s Hama, with the goal of obtaining a Syrian passport. During this trip, M.A. was reportedly kidnapped and a ransom was demanded of his family. The family paid $3,000 to the kidnappers and the victim was subsequently released. B.Z. and Aa.Z. have confessed to the crime, the ISF statement said. The suspects worked with five other Lebanese accomplices. The driver of the car in which the victim was taken was also arrested.