BEIRUT: Interior Minister Marwan
Charbel said that Lebanon is working with Turkey to identify where the 11
kidnapped Lebanese are now being held after the Syrian army shelled the city
they were held in.
“We are working with the Turkish
side to determine the new location for the kidnapped and looking into means to
communicate with the captors,” Charbel told As-Safir.
Charbel was in Ankara last week to
follow up on the case of the 11 Shiite pilgrims who were kidnapped after
crossing into Syria from Turkey on May 22.
His visit came after Lebanon’s
Cabinet formed a crisis ministerial committee to seek answers on the fate of
the pilgrims.
Reports surfaced earlier this month
that four of the pilgrims were killed in an air strike by the Syrian army in
the Aleppo district of Azaz where they were being held by Syrian rebels.
However, French Foreign Affairs
Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday that all 11 Lebanese were alive and well.
In his interview with the local
daily, Charbel said he would return to Turkey later in the week, praising the
work by Turkish officials in working to resolve this case.
“At the moment we are working to collect new
information, after the captors' group was broken up due to the shelling of
Azaz," he said. Charbel declined to specify a deadline for a resolution of
the issue.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-21/185212-lebanon-turkey-working-to-locate-hostages-after-azaz-shelling.ashx#axzz245GhTCxA
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