BEIRUT: A Saudi national is among a group of men kidnapped by a Lebanese clan on Wednesday in retaliation for the abduction of one of their relatives by the rebel Free Syrian Army, a clan member said.

Hatem al-Meqdad, a brother of the man kidnapped by rebels in Damascus, confirmed reports of a kidnapped Saudi to the local television channel Al Jadeed.

Members of the Meqdad clan earlier warned that citizens of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia could be under threat. All three countries have thrown their weight behind the 17-month-old revolt in Syria.

Saudi Arabia has ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon “immediately”, the state news agency reported in an SMS alert on Wednesday.

“The Saudi Arabian embassy in Lebanon calls all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon immediately,” the alert had said, without elaborating.