Nine Drivers Return to Beirut from Jordan
Nine Lebanese truck drivers, who had been stranded at the Syrian-Jordanian border following clashes between rebels and Syrian government troops, returned to Beirut on Monday.
A plane carrying eight truckers landed at Rafik Hariri International Airport before noon.
In the evening, a ninth driver, Hassan al-Atat, arrived at the Lebanese side of the al-Masnaa border crossing, according to state-run National News Agency.
Reports had said Atat's captors had asked for a ransom to set him free.
The drivers had been stranded in Syria but they later crossed into Jordan.
Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb held a press conference at the airport upon the drivers' arrival.
The minister told reporters that the Free Syrian Army protected the drivers while they were stranded on the border.
At least 30 Lebanese drivers had been stranded on the Syrian-Jordanian border, in the free zone, after rebels, backed by al-Nusra Front, seized the Syrian side, prompting Amman to close the frontier crossing.
One of the drivers returning to Beirut on Monday said the men were held by al-Nusra fighters for eight days before local residents "put pressure on al-Nusra to release us.”
After that the men stayed with civilians, "under the protection of the Free Syrian Army," Abdel Rahman Ahmed Huri said, until Lebanese government efforts resulted in the drivers being able to cross into Jordan.
G.K./Y.R.
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