Qatar Says Its Mediation 'Led to Release of 9 Lebanese' Pilgrims, Ibrahim Confirms News
Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya on Friday announced that “the Qatari mediation has led to the release of the nine Lebanese” hostages who were abducted in Syria's Aazaz and Lebanese officials have confirmed his remarks.
Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera television reported the story in a breaking news ticker without elaborating any further.
Meanwhile, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told al-Jadeed television that he has been informed by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim that the hostages “have been released and they're on their way to Turkey.”
"The abductees have become in the custody of the Turks and we're awaiting some logistical steps. The hostages will be in Lebanon within 24-48 hours," al-Jadeed quoted Ibrahim as saying.
LBCI television said “Ibrahim is in Turkey and he is waiting for the abductees to cross the (Syrian-Turkish) border.”
Meanwhile, the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television quoted Lebanese sources as saying that the nine abductees “will arrive in Lebanon within 24-48 hours.”
Future TV quoted Ibrahim as saying that the nine hostages will return to Lebanon within 48 hours.
“The first phase of the release of the abductees is moving them to Turkish territory and they will be released in one batch,” Charbel told al-Jadeed.
Quoting Ibrahim, al-Manar television said the Lebanese pilgrims have become “in safe hands.”
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region in May 2012 as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage in Iran. Two of them were released in late 2012.
The abductors, the rebel Northern Storm Brigade, had demanded the release of 282 women detainees from Syrian prisons in return for the nine men.
Ibrahim arrived in Beirut earlier on Friday after a short visit to Syria where he discussed the issue with Syrian officials, state-run National News Agency reported.
A few hours later, Ibrahim traveled to Turkey to follow up on the issue, NNA said.
On Thursday, Ibrahim interrupted his visit to Belgium and headed to Turkey to meet negotiators over the case.
"Ibrahim ended his trip to Belgium and traveled to Turkey to hold talks on the pilgrims' case,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
On August 9, gunmen abducted two Turkish pilots after ambushing a bus carrying Turkish Airlines crew from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport to a hotel in the city.
The families of the Lebanese abductees accuse Turkey of being behind the kidnapping. They, however, have denied any involvement in the abduction of the Turkish pilots.
A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam al-Rida claimed the abduction, and demanded that Turkey use its influence with Syrian rebels it backs to secure the release of the nine pilgrims.
Lebanese authorities have since arrested three suspects and charged them in connection with the pilots' abduction.
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