BEIRUT // Two American journalists, whose disappearance while on holiday in Lebanon sparked concerns of possible terrorism, were found yesterday safely in the custody of the Syrian secret police, after being arrested for attempting to enter Syria from Lebanon without valid visas. Lebanese and Syrian officials accused Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, of hiring a smuggler to take them across Lebanon's northern border into Syria without visas or proper permission, although that charge could not be independently verified, and the Syrian government said it would continue to investigate the specifics of the border infiltration.
"The Syrian authorities arrested two American nationals because they illegally entered Syrian territory this morning with the help of a smuggler," a foreign ministry statement said. "The security services are now interrogating them to find out how they entered without the necessary visas. The two American nationals will be turned over to the United States Embassy in Damascus after the necessary procedures are completed." After several hours of confusion over media reports on the arrests, the US Embassy in Damascus confirmed the two were in Syrian custody.
An embassy statement said: "Syrian government has informed us that they detained two American citizens as they tried to cross into Syria." The US State Department said yesterday it was "greatly relieved" that the duo had turned up safe in Syria. "We are greatly relieved that the two are safe," Robert Wood, the department's deputy spokesman, told Agence France-Presse after noting that the Syrian government confirmed to the US Embassy in Damascus that two detained people were the missing reporters.
The statement from the foreign ministry said the two were arrested yesterday but previous statements from the US Embassy in Beirut and from the couple's families indicated they had been missing since about Oct 1. The inconsistency in the timeline could not be reconciled. Lebanese security sources were notified by the US Embassy that the two - who have worked as journalists for the Jordan Times - had gone missing on Oct 1 after indicating they would travel north from Beirut, across the border into Syria, where they planned to visit Allepo.
Lebanese authorities on Wednesday were able to confirm that the pair had not left Lebanon through the main border crossings or airport, which sparked fears they might have been victims of a crime or terrorist activity. Recent bombings in northern Lebanon, near where the two planned to cross into Syria, have raised fears of radical Sunni militant activity in the area. mprothero@thenational.ae
