BEIRUT:
Although signs over the weekend indicated the safety of the 11 Lebanese Shiite
pilgrims kidnapped in Syria, a complication emerged Sunday with the Syrian
National Council likely removing itself from negotiations of their release.
Former
head of the Syrian National Council Burhan Ghalioun said a recent speech by
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had “complicated the issue” and the body
would be withdrawing itself from negotiations to release the kidnapped
pilgrims.
Ghalioun,
who spoke at a news conference following the handing over of his duties as the
head of the SNC to Abdel-Basset Sida, said that responsibility was now in the
hands of the Lebanese government.
Nasrallah
recently said that last month’s kidnapping of the pilgrims would not sway his
party’s policy of supporting Bashar Assad’s government and also called for the
pilgrims to be released and for the larger political issues to be dealt with
separately: with war or peace.
A
previously unknown Syrian rebel group claimed responsibility for the abduction
of the Lebanese and said that releasing them was contingent on Nasrallah apologizing
for his support of Syria.
Ghalioun
also reiterated his condemnation of the kidnapping and said that the council
sought the speedy release of the pilgrims.
Lebanese
government and political officials from a broad array of groups have been
scrambling to bring the kidnapped Lebanese home quickly as the issue drags on
and risks raising sectarian tension in the country.
Their
efforts have been complicated by a disorganized opposition in Syria and
worsening sectarian tensions following a number of recent gruesome killings of
civilians.
On
May 22, the pilgrims were kidnapped in the Syrian province of Aleppo shortly
after crossing the border from Turkey. They were on their way back to Lebanon
following a religious pilgrimage to Iran. The women and elderly men of the
group were released quickly but 11 men are still being held.
Indications
of a peaceful solution of the kidnapping got a boost Saturday when a video
showing the pilgrims in good health was released by Al-Jazeera.
In
the video broadcast by Al-Jazeera, abductees take turns reassuring their loved
ones of their safety. One of the abductees said in his statement that it was
either June 5 or 6.
A
few of the men said to the camera that they supported the Syrian opposition and
were guests of the rebels who are fighting the Syrian government.
It
was not immediately clear whether the abductees had been coerced into making
such statements.
Separately,
the Syrian rebels who abducted the Lebanese said that they would release them
were they ordered to do so by a new parliament of a new civil state in Syria,
Al-Jazeera TV reported Saturday.
Foreign
Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour Sunday voiced optimism that the pilgrims’
release was imminent.
“We
have great hope for their safe return,” Mansour told Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat. “We
were all happy to see them okay and in good health [in the video] and there are
positive signs that their release will take place soon.”
In
his interview with the daily, Mansour also praised efforts by Turkey to help
secure the release of the kidnapped and said Ankara was actively following up
on the case.
Earlier, the abductees’
relatives in Lebanon had begun to show frustration with the slow pace of the
negotiations. Around 75 people took to the streets Friday and blocked the road
leading to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport near the headquarters of
the Higher Islamic Council, demanding action by the government.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jun-11/176379-potential-snare-emerges-in-bid-to-free-11-hostages-in-syria.ashx#axzz1xTxHA45d
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