BEIRUT:
Free Syrian Army deputy commander Malek al-Kurdi said in remarks published
Tuesday that the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria last week are alive
and still in the country.
"The
kidnapped Lebanese are in Syria and have not entered Turkish territory,"
Kurdi told pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, denying reports that they had
been executed.
Negotiations
intensified Monday in a bid to secure the release of 11 Lebanese hostages held
by Syrian rebels, a political source told The Daily Star, as Lebanon called on
the Arab League to take part in efforts to free them.
The
11 male pilgrims were kidnapped in the Syrian province of Aleppo last Tuesday
shortly after crossing the border from Turkey. Their release had been scheduled
for Friday, according to Turkish officials, but for reasons that are still
unknown, they are still held captive. A day later, three Lebanese pilgrims were
killed and several others wounded in Iraq in a bomb blast targeting their bus.
In
an interview with As-Safir newspaper published Monday, Prime Minister Najib
Mikati said contacts were continuing with all sides and “what we can say and
tell the parents is that their sons are safe and sound.”
Asked
about the outcome of contacts in the matters, Mikati said: “There is nothing
tangible up till now but, God willing, things will progress.”
Mikati
issued Monday a directive temporarily banning overland pilgrimages in light of
the attacks. Pilgrims may now travel only by air. The committee of Hajj and
Umrah affairs was tasked with coordinating with relevant groups to ensure the
implementation of the decision, the statement added.
Sheikh
Ibrahim Zoabi, head of the Party of Free Syrians, said Monday the party had
stopped mediating the release of the Lebanese hostages for several reasons,
including the “negative” way the Lebanese Cabinet was handling the matter.
Meanwhile
Nabil Halabi, head of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights,
told a local radio station Monday evening that the hostages were in Turkey.
He
said he had received a photo of one of the kidnapped sitting on a cement bench,
blindfolded but in apparent good health. He added that the authenticity of the
photo had to be determined before it could be published.
The
activist said the biggest obstacle hindering the pilgrims release was the
kidnappers’ interest in hostage Abbas Shuaib, whom they maintain is a member of
Hezbollah.
Halabi also said that the
captors were not part of any of the Syrian opposition groups.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/May-29/174977-lebanese-hostages-alive-in-syria-free-syrian-army-official.ashx#axzz1wFjVYzRg
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