"My wife crossed the border into Syria and has seen his body in the morgue of Bassel Assad hospital" in the coastal city of Tartus, said Ahmad Hamad of his son Maher.
President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
condemned the kidnapping of three Lebanese fishermen after a Syrian fishing boat approached their vessel, shot up it, and then took it into Syrian territory.
Suleiman followed up with Prime Minister
Najib Miqati and Security Forces leaders, demanding the Syrian authorities to release them immediately.His stressed the need that the illusory sovereignty of both countries be respected, urging both Leb and Syria to reinforce coordination in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
For his part, Miqati condemned the attack on Lebanese fishermen saying that the Lebanese-Syrian coordination committee should swiftly resolve the incident and bring back the kidnapped men.
According to the National News Agency the fishermen will be released on Saturday night as a result of the intensive contacts held between Lebanese and Syrian authorities.
Residents of the border town of al-Arida, where the fishermen come from, consequently blocked the international road leading to Syria by burning tyres in protest over the kidnapping.
MTV said that all border-crossings in northern Leb leading to Syria have been closed.
A local official, Ali Assad Khaled, mayor of the town of al-Arida, said brothers Fadi and Khaled Hamad and Maher were seized from their boat off the coast of northern Leb.
"Gunmen on another boat opened fire on the three Lebanese before seizing them and taking them off to Syria," he told AFP, adding that the incident was witnessed by other fishermen who insisted it took place in Lebanese waters.