By Hussein Dakroub

BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces freed a Kuwaiti man from his captors Monday, two days after his kidnapping in east Lebanon, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has said.
 
Issam al-Houty, who was snatched by gunmen in Hawsh al-Ghanam in the eastern Bekaa region outside his house last Saturday, was found unharmed by security forces in a house Monday night, Charbel told The Daily Star.
 
He said Houty’s captors escaped after leaving him alone in a house in the Bekaa region. Charbel said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri had played a major role in securing Houty’s release.
 
Bassam Tleis, an official of Berri’s Amal Movement, said no ransom was paid for Houty’s freedom even though the kidnappers had initially demanded a $2 million ransom. He added that pressure was exerted on the captors to free Houty.
 
Following his release, Houty was taken by security forces to Tleis’ house in the village of Brital.
 
Speaking at a news conference at Tleis’ house, Houty confirmed no ransom had been paid for his freedom. He said he was severely beaten by his kidnappers who accused him of funding the Syrian revolution against the regime of President Bashar Assad. Houty thanked President Michel Sleiman, Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Lebanese Army for their efforts to secure his release.
 
Houty called Berri to thank him for the “intensive efforts” he made to win his freedom, the state-run National News Agency reported.
 
Berri called the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon Abdel-Aal al-Qinai to inform him that Houty had been released and was in good health.
 
Mikati, after being informed by Charbel of Houty’s release, called the freed Kuwaiti to say he was pleased he was unharmed. Mikati also thanked security agencies and all those who had made an effort, particularly residents in the Bekaa region, to secure Houty’s release.
 
Houty, who works as a director of an oil company in Kuwait, is married to Fawziyeh Arafat, a Lebanese, and they have a 3-year-old daughter.
 
Speaking in a TV interview, Tleis stressed that no money had been exchanged to secure Houty’s release. “Regardless of the circumstances of the kidnapping, Houty was released as a result of pressure exerted and intensive contacts.”
 
Tleis said he worked on Houty’s case on orders from Berri who, he said, followed the case hour by hour. “Houty’s release is a confirmation of the unity of the Lebanese and Kuwaiti people,” he added.
 
Escorted by security forces, Houty was later taken to the residence of the Kuwaiti ambassador in Beirut.
 
Shortly before Houty’s release, Charbel said the Lebanese Army had launched a massive manhunt to locate him.
 
“Security agencies have been on alert since [Sunday] to locate the kidnapped Kuwaiti man. The Army is raiding villages and areas in the Bekaa region where the kidnapping occurred,” Charbel told The Daily Star.
 
Charbel said that Houty’s abduction had not been politically motivated.
 
Berri called Sunday for the immediate release of Houty, saying that Kuwait has always stood by Lebanon’s side no matter the circumstances.
 
Following a spate of kidnappings of Syrian and Turkish nationals along with threats by local groups to target Gulf citizens in tit-for-tat abductions, Kuwait and other Gulf countries issued travel advisories, recommending that its citizens avoid traveling to Lebanon.
 
Meanwhile, Charbel remained optimistic that this week would see a resolution to the crisis of the remaining 10 Lebanese hostages in Syria after one of kidnap victims was released Saturday.
 
He spoke following a meeting of a ministerial committee tasked with resolving the issue of Lebanese hostages.
 
“Positive negotiations continue. As to the pace, mechanism and outcome [of negotiations], this depends on what [happens] over the next few days or hours,” Labor Minister Salim Jreissati told reporters after the meeting held at the Interior Ministry.
 
Jreissati said Charbel briefed the committee on “positive information” regarding the hostage issue. “In line with the policy of silence which has proved its merits at all levels, the committee has decided to continue following this policy,” he said.
 
“Positivity prevails in general. The interior minister is bent on setting the framework in order to reassure the [hostages’] relatives,” Jreissati said.
 
He added that Charbel was in constant contact with the concerned parties in order to secure the release of all Lebanese hostages in Syria.
 
Charbel said Sunday that the release of one of the hostages by their captors sets the stage for an overall solution to the crisis of Lebanese kidnap victims in Syria as well as Syrians abducted in Lebanon.
 
“Next week will witness a happy resolution to the crisis of the Lebanese kidnapped in Syria and the Syrians kidnapped in Lebanon,” Charbel said.
 
However, Colonel Riad Asaad, commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army which kidnapped the 11 Lebanese, ruled out an early release of the hostages, claiming that most of them are senior Hezbollah officials.
 
Hussein Ali Omar was released Saturday by the FSA, who kidnapped 11 Shiite pilgrims shortly after crossing into Syria from Turkey on May 22 on their way back to Lebanon from a pilgrimage to Iran. The rebel group said that Omar’s release came in response to a request by the head of the Committee of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon Sheikh Hasan Qaterji. The committee has been involved in efforts to win the release of the Lebanese hostages in Syria.
 
Hours after Omar’s release, the armed Meqdad clan, which has kidnapped over 20 Syrians and a Turkish national in retaliation for the abduction of their relative by Syrian rebels, also released six Syrians, saying the remaining four hostages were linked to the FSA. The clan released some 20 Syrians last week.
 
Another four Syrians were released Saturday by the Shiite group Al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, which abducted 10 Syrians earlier this month in order to press its demand for the release of Lebanese hostages.
 
Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani called Omar to congratulate him on his safe return to his family in Lebanon, hoping that all Lebanese kidnapped in Syria would be released.
 
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly welcomed Omar’s release. She condemned the kidnapping of any individuals based on nationality, sect, ethnicity or for criminal gain and called for their immediate release, according to a statement released by the U.S. Embassy.
 
Her statement came after she met with Mikati at the Grand Serail with whom she discussed the political and security situation in Lebanon and regional events. – With additional reporting by Rakan al-Fakih