A former Syrian vice president who became one of the country's most prominent dissidents was kidnapped in Lebanon five months ago while visiting his daughter and is believed to be secretly imprisoned by the Syrian regime as it tries to crush a 7-month-old uprising, his daughter and Lebanese police said. The abduction of Shibli Al-Aisamy, an 88-year-old who holds permanent US residency, has raised alarm among some in Lebanon that members of the country's security forces are helping Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in its crackdown on anti-government protesters, effectively extending it into Lebanon to prevent it from becoming a safe haven for the Syrian opposition. “The kidnapping is very surprising,” Al-Aisamy's daughter, Rajaa Sharafeddine, told The Associated Press this week while choking back tears. Sharafeddine, who is in her 50s and married to a Lebanese, decided to speak to the media out of concern that her elderly father's health is deteriorating. She said details of the case are only coming to light now because police briefed her and parliament's Human Rights Committee on the investigation last week. Syria had direct control over Lebanon for nearly 30 years before pulling out its troops in 2005 under local and international pressure. But Syria still has great influence, and pro-Syrian factions led by the militant group Hezbollah dominate the government in Beirut. At the same time, Syria's regime is becoming increasingly more isolated internationally. Meawhile Syria has agreed to allow an Arab League delegation to visit Damascus in a bid to defuse the deadly violence there, the 22-member body said in a statement on Thursday. “We have received approval from the Syrian government to receive a ministerial delegation, headed by Qatar on Wednesday, October 26,” Assistant Secretary General Wagih Hanafi said. The delegation will also include Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi and the foreign ministers of AlgeriaEgypt, Oman and Sudan. At an urgent session in Cairo on October 16, the Arab League called for “national dialogue” in the Egyptian capital between Syria's government and the opposition by the end of the month to help end the violence and avoid “foreign intervention” in Syria. But the proposal was swiftly slammed by Syria's official media. The United Nations estimates more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in a fierce crackdown on dissent in Syria. The UN asked the Syrian government on Thursday to stop its incursion into Lebanon, warning that the raids could ignite tensions in the region. “I strongly deplore the violent incursions and raids into Lebanese towns and villages by Syrian security forces that resulted in death and injury,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a report release late Wednesday. “I call upon the government of the Syrian Arab Republic immediately to cease all such incursions and to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ban added. “These incursions and the ongoing crisis in Syria carry the potential of igniting further tensions inside Lebanon and beyond.” The kidnapping case illuminates the long arm of Syria's pervasive security services, which are the backbone of the regime and the driving force behind the culture of fear and paranoia in Syria. It also highlights the lingering ties that bind Syria and Lebanon.
