12 Lebanese Shiites abducted in Aleppo

Amman:  Rebels in northern Syria kidnapped 12 Lebanese Shiites in Aleppo province as they made their way back home by bus from Iran, family members said yesterday.

"My two brothers-in-law were among about 12 people kidnapped by the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo as they were heading back to Beirut on board a bus after visiting religious sites in Iran," said one man who refused to give his name.

"The women who were with them were allowed to go free."

The man was among family members of those detained and hundreds of supporters who gathered yesterday afternoon in a suburb of the Lebanese capital to demand their release. Meanwhile, Syrian police killed two people yesterday when they opened fire on a crowd who came out to welcome United Nations observers in the eastern province of Deir Al Zor, a rebel official said.

"As soon as the UN convoy entered Al Busaira, a jubilant crowd of hundreds came out to welcome them. It was not minutes before they came under fire," Abu Laila, a Free Syrian Army official, said by phone from the town.

"The observers immediately left Al Busaira. We called them to come back but they refused," he said, adding that fighting ensued between President Bashar Al Assad's forces and rebels based in the town.

Further violence

Meanwhile, A bomb that apparently targeted a restaurant in the Syrian capital killed at least five people, the state-run news agency said yesterday, as activists reported intense clashes between army defectors and soldiers in the restive north.

Sana, the country's main media outlet, released photographs of the bombing scene that appeared to show a heavily damaged restaurant. The agency said the blast went off late on Monday in the Damascus neighbourhood of Qaboun, which has seen frequent anti-government protests.

The conflict already has spilled across the border into neighbouring Leban-on. The countries share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which can turn violent.

The killing of an anti-Syrian Sunni cleric in Lebanon on Sunday unleashed the most serious outbreak of violence in Beirut since the Syrian uprising began. Lebanese Sunni groups supporting and opposing the Damascus regime fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns early Monday, killing at least two people.

Shaikh Ahmad Abdul Wahid and his bodyguard were gunned down on Sunday by a Lebanese soldier, apparently after the men failed to stop at an army checkpoint.

The killing fuelled deep anger over the perceived support of some of Leban-on's security forces for the Syrian regime.

In what could reduce the tension in Lebanon, a Lebanese military prosecutor ordered the release yesterday of Shadi Mawlawi, an outspoken Lebanese critic of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

BEIRUT, May 22, 2012 (AFP) - An Islamist whose arrest sparked deadly sectarian clashes in Lebanon between pro- and anti-Syrian groups was released on bail Tuesday, a judicial official said.

The official said military judge Nabil Wehbe ordered Shadi al-Mawlawi released on bail of 500,000 Lebanese pounds (333 dollars).

Mawlawi's May 12 arrest on charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation sparked sectarian clashes in the northern port city of Tripoli that left 10 people dead.

His supporters say he was targeted because he was helping Syrian refugees fleeing the unrest in their country.

The clashes escalated further at the weekend and reached the capital Beirut following the killing of two anti-Sunni clerics who reportedly failed to stop at an army checkpoint in the north of the country.

Two people were killed and 18 wounded in Beirut as a result of the clashes.