The General Security
Department’s deportation of 14 Syrians torpedoed efforts to release 11 Lebanese
Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria since May, An Nahar daily reported on
Friday.
The Lebanese mediator
involved in negotiations to set the men free was informed that the talks
reached a dead-end following major progress made to secure the safe return of
the pilgrims, the newspaper said.
The mediating side has
close ties to high-ranking officials in the Syrian opposition that is battling
the regime of President Bashar Assad since March last year, it said.
Lebanon deported the
Syrians on Wednesday, drawing severe criticism from Progressive Socialist Party
leader Walid Jumblat and human rights activists.
The General Security
said the reasons for the expulsions were not political but a Human Rights Watch
representative in Beirut said some of the deportees had expressed fears of
persecution by the regime on their return.
The 11 pilgrims were
kidnapped on May 22 in the northern province of Aleppo by armed gunmen while on
their way home from Iran.
The armed opposition
Free Syrian Army, whose leaders are based in Turkey, has denied any
involvement.
The alleged kidnappers,
who identify themselves as "all of Syria's rebels," said in a
statement that accompanied a video aired on al-Jazeera network in June they
will free them when a "civil state" sees the day in Syria.
The same month,
al-Jazeera quoted an armed group, the "Syrian Revolutionaries -- Aleppo
Province,” as saying they were holding the pilgrims.
In both videos aired by
al-Jazeera the abductors have demanded an apology from Hizbullah leader Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah.http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/48761
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