Israeli army says it abducted Syrian citizen

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army announced Sunday that it had abducted a Syrian citizen, claiming he worked for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), following the earlier kidnapping of a Lebanese man suspected of being a military official of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

The Israeli army said that during a nighttime operation across the Syrian border, its elite Egoz commando unit detained Ali Suleiman Al-Asi, a resident of southern Syria's Saida area.

They alleged that he was gathering intelligence on Israeli forces for the IRGC.

The army is currently interrogating him but has not provided a specific date for the abduction, only that it occurred in recent months.

It marked the first public announcement of such an operation in Syria by Israel. No statements have been released by Syria or Iran.

Since 2011, Israel has periodically targeted Iranian-backed groups in Syria with airstrikes.

Israel and Iran view each other as primary adversaries, leading to recent exchanges of air and missile strikes.

In a related incident, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked his foreign minister to file a complaint with the UN regarding the abduction of a Lebanese citizen, Imad Amhaz, who was captured by members of Israel's elite Shayetet 13 force on Friday on the coast of Batroun in northern Lebanon.

Amhaz's father asserted that he is a civilian maritime captain with no ties to Hezbollah.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul