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Kidnapping of 5 Czechs in Lebanon: a criminal abduction?

(B2) The disappearance on Saturday (July 18) of five Czechs and their driver in eastern Lebanon is “ of a criminal nature said Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk on Wednesday during his visit to Paris. The five people would be two journalists, a lawyer, a translator and a fifth " whose status has not been identified but who, according to a well-informed source, is a high-ranking security figure visiting Lebanon for the first time on condition of anonymity”, according to the daily The Orient by Day.

The Beirut daily indicates that " according to unconfirmed information ", this kidnapping could be linked " in the case of Ali Taan Fayad, a Lebanese man held in pre-trial detention in the Czech Republic since 2014 at the request of the United States ". The five people are said to have disappeared in the village of Kefraya, in the Bekaa Valley. Disturbing element: their passports, travel bags and cameras were found in the taxi (Kia type) belonging to Fayad's brother, Mounir Saeb Taan. Ali Taan Fayad has Ukrainian nationality and is said to have served as adviser to the former Ukrainian Defense Minister for the Middle East under Viktor Yanukovych.

A crisis meeting took place in Prague on Friday (July 24), according to the Radio Prague agency. Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek indicated that the kidnapping hypothesis remains " one track among others ».

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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