Hassan Jaber, a Lebanese businessman from the construction industry who works in the eastern African country of Gabon, was abducted earlier this week in Ethiopia, Israel Hayom reported on Thursday morning, citing family members of the businessman who spoke with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Thursday morning.
The Lebanese businessman has previously lived in the town of Batha in southern Lebanon, which has members from Hezbollah and the Shi'ite Amal movement, according to his family members who spoke to the Lebanese newspaper. According to them, he was interrogated in December 2017 by the intelligence agencies in Gabon.
His family members suspect that the Mossad is behind the kidnapping. They denied Jaber had any ties to Hezbollah or any other political official in Lebanon.
Jabber arrived at Addis Ababa Airport to board a continuing flight to Lebanon, but was prevented from doing so, and did not continue on the connecting flight to Beirut, according to the report.
At this time, no one knows what happened to the Lebanese businessman. However, Al-Akhbar said that before boarding, the airline worker told Jaber, who was looking for something in a suitcase, to do so on the side to speed up the line. Subsequently, Jaber was prevented from boarding a minibus leading to the boarding point. After the businessman's uncle had already boarded the flight, the plane's doors closed and the pilot took off without Jaber boarding. The uncle and other family members are sure the airline knows details of Jaber's fate.