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Relative of Assad’s Wife Disappears in Lebanon

Head of Syrian Regime Bashar al-Assad (R) with his wife, Asma al-Assad [file photo]
Head of Syrian Regime Bashar al-Assad (R) with his wife, Asma al-Assad [file photo]
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Relative of Assad’s Wife Disappears in Lebanon

Head of Syrian Regime Bashar al-Assad (R) with his wife, Asma al-Assad [file photo]
Head of Syrian Regime Bashar al-Assad (R) with his wife, Asma al-Assad [file photo]

Reports said Tuesday that Merhef Akhras, the cousin of Syrian first lady Asma Assad, was “kidnapped” in Beirut last week.

The Lebanese National News Agency said that Akhras, the son of prominent businessmen Tarif Akhras, disappeared last Thursday under suspicious circumstances on the road between Aley and Chtaura while traveling to Damascus.

The man’s father is the cousin of Fawaz al-Akhras, the father of Asma Assad.

A local radio station reported that Akhras’ wife received a telephone call from the area of east Bekaa from her husband’s Syrian number, asking that she pay $2 million for his release.

Akhras’ car was found parked in Aley.

Local LBC television said that Akhras, who is in his 40s, had moved to Lebanon three years ago.

According to Syrian opposition figures, Tarif owns several food factories, including rice and sugar in Homs.

One opposition source said that Tarif acts on behalf of Asma in several investment projects in the banking, real estate and food industries.

In 2014, Britain’s High Court ordered a 12 month jail term for Tarif due to breach of contract in a deal with Archer Daniels Midland for food imports to Syria.

Akhras had failed to pay $26 million to ADM for corn and soybeans supplied by the commodities house for import to Syria in 2011.

EU and Swiss sanctions were imposed on Akhras for giving support to Syrian authorities.

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Israeli Airstrike South of Beirut Kills at Least 15, Lebanon’s Health Ministry Says

A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrike South of Beirut Kills at Least 15, Lebanon’s Health Ministry Says

A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)
A building damaged in an Israeli military strike in the town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, 05 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment building in a village south of Beirut killed at least 15 people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said the toll is not final and operations to rescue people from under the rubble are ongoing.

Lebanon’s state news agency said the airstrike hit an area known as Barja just north of the port city of Sidon. It was not immediately clear what the target of the airstrike was.

Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded 20 others in the nearby town of Jiyeh.

Both attacks hit areas that have not been a regular target of Israeli military operations and had not received prior evacuation warnings.  

"It felt like it was inside the house," Malika Al Hajj, an elderly woman living in Jiyeh, told The Associated Press. "I ran away — I don’t even know which neighbor brought me out, because everything was black. You couldn’t see anything."  

Once outside, Hajj said she discovered that the strike had hit the nearby building where her nephews live.  

"Men, women and children" live inside, she said. "I just want to be reassured. I saw some of them, but the others, they told me, were taken to the hospital."  

At the site of the strike, the building’s skeletal frame stands amid the rubble, its concrete shattered, windows blown out and metal twisted from the impact.  

Families were seen leaving the area, carrying what belongings they could gather.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 3,013 people and injured 13,553 others since Oct. 2023, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.