Turkey foils Syrian attempt to kidnap defected army commander: report

The Syrian intelligence agency failed to kidnap Free Syrian Army commander Riad al-Asaad, the Turkish al-Sabah newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to the newspaper report, a woman named Suhaila, who works for the Syrian intelligence agency, arrived at the city of Hatay on the Syrian-Turkish border, with the main aim of kidnapping colonel Asaad from the refugee camp, in which he stayed along with a group of other defected Syrian officers.

A Syrian man provided her with the information she needed about the refugee camp, according to the newspaper report. In the meanwhile, the Turkish intelligence agency was aware of the suspicious movements of the couple. They were arrested last week along with a number of Turks who were involved in the failed operation.