Missing US marine 'safe in Lebanon'

The US has “credible information” that US marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun who went missing in Iraq is safe in his native Lebanon.

But Elizabeth Wharton, public affairs officer at the US Embassy in Beirut, said it could not confirm the information that it had received about the fate of 24-year-old Hassoun, who went missing in Iraq more than two weeks ago.

“We have credible information that he is in the country and safe but we’ve not been able to confirm it and we’re working on confirmation of that,” Wharton said.

An Iraqi militant group said on Monday it was holding the 24-year-old Muslim in a safe place but had not killed him after he had promised not to return to the US military.

Qatar’s Al-Jazeera satellite television broadcast the statement from the Islamic Response Movement, which claimed responsibility for Hassoun’s kidnapping on June 27.

On Saturday, a statement posted on a website known for extremist Muslim comment said Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Muslim, had been beheaded.

A day later, another web statement declared the US marine had not been killed.

Denying media reports that Hassoun has been staying at the US embassy since returning to Lebanon, Wharton said: “We have no confirmation of his location whatsoever … We do not have any confirmation at this point of his location or whether he is in fact in Lebanon.”

Earlier, Hassoun’s brother denied reports he had been released and had contacted family members.

“I hope we hear from him, but so far, nothing,” Mohamad Hassoun said.

According to CNN, Corporal Hassoun told family members that he had contacted the US Embassy in Beirut and asked to be picked up at an undisclosed location in Lebanon.

When asked about the supposed call from Hassoun, his brother in Lebanon, Sami Hassoun, said: “We have nothing to say.”