Syrian Envoy Kidnaped, Freed in Less Than a Day

Gunmen kidnaped a Syrian diplomat as he drove home from work in the Iranian capital, and a top aide to Syria’s president said the envoy was freed today, less than 24 hours after his abduction.

Syrian officials here identified the diplomat abducted Thursday night as consul Iyad Mahmoud, the No. 2 man at the Syrian Embassy in Tehran.

Official Tehran radio, monitored in London, said the armed men in a BMW car and an ambulance stopped Mahmoud’s vehicle at 10 p.m. It quoted witnesses as saying the kidnapers fired six shots and hustled the diplomat into the ambulance, which left for an unknown destination.

Syrian presidential spokesman Jibrane Kourieh said today: “The matter is over now, and Mr. Mahmoud is no longer in the hands of the kidnapers.”

Kourieh declined to give any other details.

No immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnaping was reported.

Negotiation or Rescue

There was no indication from officials in Syria or Iran whether Mahmoud’s release had been negotiated or whether he had been rescued by Iranian security forces.

A Syrian Embassy official in Tehran, who refused to give his name, said he had no details of the kidnaping but blamed the abduction on “those who serve imperialism and Zionism.”

Tehran radio said Iranian authorities believed “elements from the CIA and world arrogance engineered this terrorist act.”

It did not say whether Mahmoud or a chauffeur was driving the car. It was not known if the diplomat had been wounded.

Syria has been an ally of Iran in its 6-year-old war with Iraq, but Damascus and Tehran have different aims in Lebanon. Tehran backs the extremist Shia Muslim Hezbollah, or Party of God, which is at odds with the Syrian-backed Shia Amal movement.

Iran’s leaders seek to establish an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon. Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, wants to absorb it into a “Greater Syria.”