Lebanese army frees kidnapped Saudi national near Syrian border, arrests 9

Lebanon's army intelligence freed a Saudi national who was abducted on Sunday in Beirut and also arrested some of those involved, the army announced on Tuesday.

An online army statement said that Saudi citizen Mashari al-Mutairi had been freed in an operation along the Lebanese border with Syria.

تمكنت دورية من مديرية المخابرات من تحرير المخطوف السعودي مشاري المطيري بعد عملية نوعية على الحدود اللبنانية السوية، كما تم توقيف عدد من المتورطين في عملية الخطف.#الجيش_اللبناني #LebaneseArmy pic.twitter.com/1gxyrcnqQ9

— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) May 30, 2023

Saudi's state-run Al Ekhbariya television station reported late on Monday that a man working for Saudi Arabian Airlines had been kidnapped in the Lebanese capital on Sunday, and that those responsible had demanded a $400,000 ransom.

In a press conference at the Saudi embassy after Mutairi's release, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said that no ransom was paid, and that Lebanese security forces had taken nine people into custody over the kidnapping.

Mawlawi said the incident would not impact diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

وزير الداخلية اللبناني بسام المولوي يكشف كيف تم تحرير المواطن السعودي #الشرق #الشرق_للأخبار pic.twitter.com/O3uwTbkuFr

— الشرق للأخبار - السعودية (@AsharqNewsKSA) May 30, 2023

Ties between the two countries withered in 2021, when the kingdom and other Gulf states withdrew their envoys following years of frustration at the growing influence of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group over Lebanon's state.

They sent ambassadors back to Beirut in April 2022.

Saudi Ambassador Waleed al-Bukhari told reporters on Tuesday that he had been in close contact with Lebanese authorities over the kidnapping, thanking them for their "professionalism and speed" in dealing with the incident.

He said Mutairi was in good health but did not comment on how ties between the two countries may be impacted.

In 2017, a Saudi national was abducted in Lebanon as tensions between the two countries were on the rise.

Security sources have told Reuters that kidnappings-for-ransom have increased as a way to make large amounts of cash in a country suffering an almost four-year-long financial meltdown.

They said captives are often taken to remote areas near the porous Syrian-Lebanese border and sometimes even across into Syria to evade capture by Lebanese security forces.