Four Syrians 'kidnapped' from in front of Beirut embassy: reports

Four Syrian men from the currently besieged southern Syrian province of Daraa, were kidnapped from in front of the Syrian embassy in Beirut, a local journalist has told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site.

The four young men "were kidnapped in front of the Syrian embassy in Beirut after being informed by an embassy employee by telephone, to come to receive their passports, which they had applied for earlier,” journalist Ibrahim Awad told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. 

“The young men hail from the city of Inkhil, north of Daraa, and were fighters in the opposition ranks before 2018,” Awad said. 

After a settlement was agreed upon by forces in Daraa and the regime in Damascus, the four joined a regime brigade, Awad said, but they went to Lebanon because of the "difficult living conditions and the interruption of their monthly salaries,” he added. 

The New Arab cannot independently verify Awad's claims.

The reported kidnapping of the four men follows a similar incident said to have taken place two days earlier, when the former Daraa opposition leader Tawfiq Fayez Al-Hajji was also reportedly taken away from in front of the Syrian embassy in Beirut. 

According to the Ahrar Houran Gathering, Al-Hajji had been smuggled out of Syria 10 days earlier. Due to his refusal to settle his status with the Assad regime in 2018, he was wanted by the regime. 

Daraa Al-Balad has been besieged since late June, following the locals' refusal to accept the country's sham presidential vote, which again returned dictator Bashar Al-Assad as leader.

Clashes between opposition fighters and the regime’s forces have intensified, while Russian-sponsored talks have collapsed. 

Ten persons wanted by the Assad regime were to be expelled from Daraa earlier this week as part of an agreement mediated by Russia, but two, who were former leaders of the opposition factions, refused to leave.

The Fourth Division, which is led by Maher Al-Assad, brother of the president, has been bombarding the neighbourhoods of Daraa Al-Balad with mortars and tank fire.

On Thursday, the regime unleashed a barrage of 30 rockets at the city of Tafas, west of Daraa.

One woman and a man were killed, and six others were wounded, some severely.