Lebanon court charges Meqdad clan with terrorism

BEIRUT // A military court in Lebanon filed charges including terrorism against members of the Meqdad clan, which has kidnapped Syrian and Turkish nationals.

Members of the clan were among six people charged with offences including establishing an armed group to kidnap people, the official National News Agency said. Some of them were Syrian.

Lebanese security forces arrested Maher Meqdad, a spokesman for the Shiite clan, last week. He announced last month that members of the clan had kidnapped Syrians and a Turkish citizen, in retaliation for the seizure of a family member by Syrian rebels.

The Lebanese army freed the Syrian captives in a raid in Beirut last week, while the Meqdad family handed the Turkish hostage over to police. The kidnappings had led some Arabian Gulf states to warn their citizens not to travel to Syria.