The Lebanese interior ministry says nine people have been arrested in connection with Sunday’s kidnapping.
A Saudi national abducted in Beirut on Sunday has been released during a special operation by the Lebanese army near the Syrian border.
“An army intelligence patrol managed to free the kidnapped Saudi national Mashari al-Mutairi during a special operation on the Syrian border and a number of those involved in the kidnapping were also arrested,” the Lebanese army said in a statement Monday.
Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi added at a press conference that nine people had been taken into custody over the kidnapping.
According to a senior Lebanese security source, unidentified attackers dressed as security personnel in a four-wheel drive vehicle on the coast of Beirut kidnapped the Saudi, who had been at a restaurant.
The kidnappers had asked for a $400,000 ransom, Saudi local media reported, but Mawlawi said it had not been paid.
Saudi Arabia asked its diplomatic staff in Lebanon to stay home after the incident.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati congratulated the army for the “great efforts to release him and arrest those involved in the kidnapping”.
Mawlawi also promised on Twitter that the kidnappers would be “punished harshly”.
There have been kidnappings in the past, with a Saudi man kidnapped for ransom upon his arrival at Beirut airport in July 2022.
Since 2021, Saudi citizens must obtain permission from their government before traveling to Lebanon due to tense diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Lebanon has witnessed an increase in crime since 2019, when the country’s economic system collapsed under the weight of state corruption and mismanagement by the ruling elites.
Saudi Arabia was once a major donor to Lebanon, but relations have deteriorated in recent years, in part due to the growing influence of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement.
Saudi Arabia returned its ambassador to Beirut in April 2022, having recalled him the previous October amid a diplomatic dispute that followed a Lebanese minister criticizing the kingdom’s conduct in the war in Yemen.