Hussein Jaafar Freed as Arsal Hostages Handed Over to Army

A hostage swap took place on Monday between the Jaafar clan and the residents of the Bekaa town of Arsal, ending a wave of tit-for-tat abductions.

"Abductee Hussein Jaafar has been freed and the kidnapped Arsal residents have been handed over to the army's intelligence directorate," LBCI television reported.

The Jaafar clan released Malek al-Hujairi late Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Al-Hujairi was among five other Arsal residents kidnapped on Sunday. The four men are identified as Malek al-Fliti, and Mohammed, Ashraf and Massoud Rayed.

Their kidnapping came after unidentified gunmen abducted Hussein Kamel Jaafar, who hails from the town of al-Bustan in Hermel.

After that, dozens of armed members of his clan headed to Arsal from Hermel and Baalbek and went on the abduction spree.

Sources told LBCI TV that Jaafar was taken to Syria.

The Jaafar clan had urged the security forces to assume their duties in the case and condemned the abduction.

Arsal is a majority Sunni town whose inhabitants generally support the revolt in neighboring Syria, while most of the population of Hermel and Baalbek are Shiites.

NNA said an ambulance came under fire overnight for transporting wounded Free Syrian Army fighters from Arsal to Bayan hospital in Baalbek.

The gunmen kidnapped its driver and a Syrian while another wounded Syrian national was left inside the vehicle, NNA added.