By
Van Meguerditchian
BEIRUT:
Two of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims who were kidnapped in Syria will be released,
their captors said in a statement carried by Al-Jazeera Tuesday.
“In
response to the calls by the committee of Muslim scholars in Lebanon, we will
release two of our guests to their families under the auspices of the committee
... and the state of Qatar,” said the statement, which was part of the third
video of the hostages that the Doha-based channel has run. The video gave no
date for the release.
The
11 men were kidnapped near the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on May 22
while returning from a Shiite religious pilgrimage in Iran.
The
video, which Al-Jazeera said was recorded last week, gave families of the
abducted hope that their relatives might be among those freed.
Most
Syrian opposition factions have distanced themselves from the abduction, but
the kidnappers have asked Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah to apologize
for his support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. A group calling itself
“Syrian Rebels in Aleppo” has claimed responsibility.
The
video aired on the same day that President Michel Sleiman held talks with
officials in Ankara about the kidnapping. Several reports said Sleiman would
seek to win the hostages’ release before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,
which begins Friday.
In
their statement, the captors said they held no hostility toward any sect in
Lebanon but only objected to a speech by Nasrallah “who has justified the acts
of Syrian President Bashar Assad and claimed that what was happening in Syria
are just media fabrications.”
Several
days after the pilgrims were kidnapped in May, an intelligence report sent from
Turkey to Lebanon said that the captives were free and in Turkey. Hours later
the report proved to be false. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Tuesday
that the Lebanese government has not been notified of the pilgrims’ release.
Turkish
officials also said they could not confirm the information in the video.
Selcuk
Unal, the spokesperson of Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that his
ministry learned of the possible release from Al-Jazeera, and his government
has not received any new information about the captives.
“We
have no information, although we are doing our best to ensure their release,”
Unal told The Daily Star.
Meanwhile,
in Ankara, Sleiman and an official delegation from Lebanon met with Turkish
President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss
bilateral relations and the issue of the kidnapped pilgrims.
During
their meeting, Gul told Sleiman that information from Syria indicates that the
abductees are safe and in good health.
Turkish
officials also informed Sleiman of Turkey’s decision to extend the Turkish
Army’s contribution to the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon. Sleiman
also discussed consequences of the unrest in Syria on the countries in the region
with his Turkish counterpart.
In
an interview with the Association of Kuwaiti Journalists, Sleiman called on the
pilgrims’ captors to immediately release them, saying that abducting civilians
would not help establish democracy in Syria.
“Why
keep them hostage? What have they done? All they did was go on a pilgrimage.
They have not done anything wrong, and this move hurts all those demanding
democracy,” Sleiman said. “For this reason, I call on them to take the
initiative to immediately release the oppressed because this [kidnapping] is
not a democratic act and does not help any cause,” he added.
Sleiman and the Lebanese
delegation returned to Beirut later Tuesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jul-18/180981-two-lebanese-pilgrims-to-be-freed-captors-tell-al-jazeera.ashx#axzz20mFkUNDx
No comments:
Post a Comment