The rebel Free Syrian Army said on Thursday it is making
"every effort" to locate and release a group of Lebanese Shiite
pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's northern province of Aleppo.
"The leadership is making every effort to find out where the
abductees are, and to make sure they are freed," FSA official spokesman
Colonel Qassem Saadeddine said in a statement.
Saadeddine reiterated that the FSA had no involvement in this
week's kidnappings, condemning "all kidnapping operations, regardless of
their nationality or religious belief or sect."
At the same time, he complained over the treatment of Syrian
refugees and anti-regime figures in Lebanon.
"Revolutionary Syrians in Lebanon have faced persecution,
kidnap and murder," he charged. "We will no longer be silent on any
action carried out by any Lebanese parties affecting Syrians in Lebanon."
The FSA spokesman urged "the Lebanese state to take full
responsibility in hosting and protecting Syrian refugees in Lebanon."
Lebanon's state news agency on Tuesday reported that the FSA had
abducted a group of Shiites in Aleppo on a bus returning via Iraq and Syria
from a pilgrimage to holy sites in Iran.
Syria's main opposition coalition has called for the prompt
release of the group, blaming Assad's regime for a "security vacuum"
in the unrest-swept country.
The Syrian National Council "does not think it is impossible
that the regime is involved in this operation," in order to sow
"disorder" in neighboring Lebanon, the group said.
News of the kidnappings prompted their families and thousands of
supporters to pour out onto the streets of Beirut's mainly Shiite southern
suburbs on Tuesday night to demand their release.
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http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/41295
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