Syria frees 2 abducted Lebanese farmers

Syrian authorities released Sunday two Lebanese farmers who were kidnapped last week in the northern border village of Abboudieh, the Lebanese Army said in a statement. “As a result of ... efforts, Mohammad Yassin Merhebi and Mahdi Hamdan were released this afternoon,” the Army said. “The office of cooperation and coordination between Lebanese and Syrian armies transferred them to the [general] directorate of [Army] intelligence at the Masnaa border crossing,” the statement added. The two were then taken to Akkar and released. Nasri Khoury, the head of the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council, told the National News Agency that he had taken Merhebi and Hamdan to the Army. Merhebi and Hamdan were abducted last Wednesday by Syrian troops in the Akkar village of Abboudieh. Residents of Abboudieh and a nearby border village, Arida, blocked the highway that links Akkar to Tripoli with burning tires Wednesday night, and family members began protesting at the border crossings of Abboudieh and Arida, blocking roads to them. Refaat Ali Eid, the head of the Arab Democratic Party, which holds sway in the predominantly Alawite Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, said Saturday the two farmers would be released as soon as he steps in to mediate. Merhebi is a Sunni, while Hamdan is an Alawite. Members of both sects live in Abboudieh. Eid offered Sunday to drive the two farmers home. The Future parliamentary bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave a memo to U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly Friday documenting breaches of Lebanese sovereignty by the Syrian Army. Several Lebanese have been killed or kidnapped by Syrian troops along the Lebanese-Syrian borders since the start of the uprising against the regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad in March of last year.