Shi'ite masked gunmen from the Meqdad clan, gather at the Meqdad family's association headquarters in the southern suburbs in Beirut. - Reuters photo

 

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.

Opinion

Editorial

Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
Updated 06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

Restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support.
Appointment rules
Updated 06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

If the judiciary had the power to self-regulate, it ought to have exercised it instead of involving the legislature.
Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....