Relatives of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria blocked
Tuesday the airport road for around an hour, with some protesters describing
the move as a “first warning” to Lebanese authorities.
Some of the protesters sat down in the middle of the street while
no burning of tires was reported. Al-Jadeed television quoted protesters as
saying that “the airport road will be totally blocked on Wednesday and Thursday
as a first warning.”
On May 22, eleven Lebanese Shiite men were abducted by an armed
group in the Syrian province of Aleppo while on their way back from a
pilgrimage in Iran.
A previously unknown armed group calling itself "Syrian
Revolutionaries - Aleppo Countryside" has claimed that the 11 pilgrims are
in its custody and that they are in good health.
A statement carrying the group’s signature and sent to Qatar-based
satellite news channel Al-Jazeera said negotiations to release the abductees “would
only be possible after (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah apologizes”
for a speech he made on May 23, one day after the pilgrims were abducted in
Aleppo shortly after entering Syria from neighboring Turkey.
Al-Jazeera showed images of men said to be among the kidnap
victims as well as passports.
But Nasrallah called on the abductors to “put the issue of the
innocents aside” and solve their problem with Hizbullah.
“We have said that the abductees are Lebanese citizens and that
therefore the state is responsible for their dignity and for freeing them and
we are helping the state as political parties. The state and the top officials
are exerting serious efforts to reach a happy ending,” Nasrallah said in a
televised speech on Friday.
Al-Jadeed revealed Tuesday that the families of the abductees will
soon hold a press conference to unveil the identity of the kidnappers.
The TV network said a top Lebanese leader has refused to meet with
the families, noting that they decided to stage protests “after the state
failed to reach a solution.”
“Where is the U.N.? Where is the Red Cross? Where are human rights
organizations,” read a banner carried by a protester during Tuesday’s sit-in.
Other protesters carried banners reading “Free Our Captives.”
Meanwhile, MTV reported that “some women who took part in the
sit-in on the airport road had tried to block the road in both directions” but
that “members of certain parties asked them to leave the place.”
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http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/42510
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