BEIRUT: A day-long kidnapping of three Syrians from Beirut’s southern suburbs ended safely Friday night, when the victims said they had been taken in a robbery attempt, a security source told The Daily Star.

The three were kidnapped overnight by armed men in unlicensed four-wheel drive cars, the brother of two of the men told The Daily Star.

Idriss al-Sahn said neighbors had told him upon his return home in the southern suburb of Bir Hasan, around 7 p.m. Thursday that his two brothers – Yassin and Mustafa – along with their friend, Issa Saleh, were kidnapped just hours before by armed members who belong to a local party.

Mustafa said Yassin, 24, is a construction worker, and Mustafa, 26, an employee at a printing press.

Idriss said he was told that three black, four-wheel drive cars and a van were used by the kidnappers, who fled to an unknown destination.

Idriss, a construction worker himself, said he immediately informed both the Internal Security Forces and the Lebanese Army about the kidnapping.

Idriss said that when he approached Hezbollah to inquire about the kidnapping, the party members denied any knowledge.

“We’re from Hasakeh in Syria. There are no protests there,” Idriss said, adding that he and his brothers are supportive of the Syrian regime.

Idriss said their eldest brother, Adnan, headed Friday to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut to inform them of the kidnapping.

Friday evening, according to the security source, the three men turned up at a police station in the suburb of Ouzai and said that the motive for their kidnapping was robbery. The source said the three men declined to answer questions about the details of how they were taken hostage, or where they were held.

Five Syrian dissidents have been kidnapped in Lebanon since May. In February, three brothers from the Jasem family were kidnapped.