Syria Issues New Warning to Kidnapers

Syria warned Wednesday that it will crack down on “terrorists who kidnap and hold innocent diplomats and journalists.” The warning came after Muslim extremists released the son of Lebanon’s defense minister and his driver after a week of captivity but failed to free American journalist Charles Glass.

“Their strongholds are not impenetrable,” said a commentary broadcast by Syria’s state radio and distributed by its official news agency. “They shall be reckoned with.”

The statement apparently referred to the Shia Muslim slums in southern Beirut, where Glass, a former ABC correspondent, Ali Osseiran, the son of Lebanon’s defense minister, and Osseiran’s driver were abducted June 17. Many of the 25 foreigners missing in Lebanon are believed held by radical Iranian-backed Shia factions in southern Beirut.

Defense Minister Adel Osseiran, who heads a prominent clan of conservative Shias, told reporters: “Charles Glass is still alive. Efforts are continuing to obtain his release.”

He thanked President Hafez Assad of Syria and Brig. Gen. Ghazi Kenaan, the Syrian commander in Beirut, for “winning my son’s freedom.”

Ali Osseiran, dressed in navy blue trousers and a dark blue shirt, appeared briefly on the balcony of the family home in the seaside town of Rmeileh, 20 miles south of the capital.

Asked where Glass was, the 40-year-old engineer replied in a sad voice: “I don’t know.”

Ali Osseiran and his driver Suleiman Salman, who doubled as a bodyguard, were freed early Wednesday morning. A Syrian official said they were blindfolded and turned loose on the coastal highway near the city of Sidon.

Fiona Glass, the journalist’s wife, telephoned the Osseiran home Wednesday evening from London, where she lives with her five children, family sources said.

They said the 82-year-old defense minister assured her Glass was being treated well and efforts to free him “will redouble soon.”

Glass, 36, formerly of Los Angeles, is one of nine Americans being held by Muslim radicals in Lebanon.