Lebanon’s premier has come under mounting pressure over the kidnapping of Syrian dissidents in Lebanon, with the opposition accusing his government of kowtowing to the regime in Damascus.
“The government of Najib Mikati is employing all diplomatic, security and political channels to back the Syrian regime,” said Fares Soueid, secretary general of the Western-backed opposition coalition headed by former prime minister Saad Hariri. “It is clear that it has become a pawn in the hands of that regime.” Soueid said that as recently as Sunday, two Syrians were arrested at Beirut international airport and handed back to authorities in Damascus, which is battling an eight-month revolt threatening the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. According to the Syrian opposition, at least 13 dissidents have been kidnapped in Lebanon in the past few months. “We have been informed of dozens more cases involving Syrians in Lebanon who were kidnapped, beaten up or threatened only because they are opposed to the Syrian regime,” said Omar Idlibi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network. The Syrian National Council (SNC) this week sent a letter to Mikati urging him to act on the matter and guarantee the safety of activists who remain in Lebanon. The issue, however, has ignited a firestorm of debate between the pro- and anti-Syria camps in Lebanon.Some 5,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since the revolt in Syria erupted mid-March but many say they now live in fear of being hunted down by Assad’s Lebanese allies.