The Lebanese press circulated today the news of the abduction of four Russian women in Zahleh back in 2013 and their handing over to ISIS. Al Mustaqbal daily reported that the Head of the Military Court, brigadier general Hussein Abdallah, while questioning Alaa A, indicted on charges of affiliation with the terrorist group during the latter’s trial yesterday, asked him about his kidnapping of 4 Russian women from a nightclub in Zahleh, Beqaa and handing them to ISIS fighters. The defendant, Al Mustaqbal wrote, denied the accusation, stating that he was abducted along with the girls on a militant checkpoint in the town of Arsal where they were later transferred to the town of Qara. In the details, during 2013, Alaa A initially confessed that he and his nephew Omar G have together kidnaped the Russians and gave them as "gifts" to ISIS commanders, but that two months later were smuggled to Turkey. Alaa went on to say, that Omar received his “share” of the money (USD 5,000) from the “the successful deal”. In the hearing, Alaa retreated from his initial statement, insisting that he and the 4 Russian women were victims of abduction, pointing that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Criminal Court of Zahleh, while his attorney, Fadia Chdid, explained that the ruling was revoked by the Criminal Court of Cassation. Omar, on the other hand, said that he did not kidnap the Russians but that he “stayed with them until late at night”, sustaining that the amount received from Alaa two days after the abduction was only his paycheck from working at the sawmill. He denied what he initially stated, that Ahmad Bakr, Syrian, has asked his uncle Alaa to capture the Russians and hand them over to ISIS chief in the Jurd, sheikh Ahmad Jumoa. )Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, June 15, 2017(
