Gunmen abducted father of Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister

Gunmen have abducted the father of Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad after regime forces arrested relatives of an armed man, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said Muqdad's father was seized from his home in the village of Ghossom in the southern province of Daraa -- cradle of the insurgency against the central government and scene of deadly battles between government forces and armed rebels.

"His abduction is in reprisal for the arrest by regime forces of relatives of one of the armed men," he said.

The Britain-based Abdel Rahman was unable to say when the abduction took place, but he added that negotiations were underway to free Muqdad's father.

Muqdad is considered as the most powerful voice of the embattled Syrian regime which has launched a deadly crackdown on rebels determined to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

The conflict, which erupted as a peaceful uprising, has claimed more than 94,000 lives since it started in March 2011, according to the Observatory which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.