Abductees Families Block Airport Road, Threaten Escalation
Relatives of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria blocked Tuesday the airport road for around an hour, with some protesters describing the move as a “first warning” to Lebanese authorities.
Some of the protesters sat down in the middle of the street while no burning of tires was reported. Al-Jadeed television quoted protesters as saying that “the airport road will be totally blocked on Wednesday and Thursday as a first warning.”
On May 22, eleven Lebanese Shiite men were abducted by an armed group in the Syrian province of Aleppo while on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran.
A previously unknown armed group calling itself "Syrian Revolutionaries - Aleppo Countryside" has claimed that the 11 pilgrims are in its custody and that they are in good health.
A statement carrying the group’s signature and sent to Qatar-based satellite news channel Al-Jazeera said negotiations to release the abductees “would only be possible after (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah apologizes” for a speech he made on May 23, one day after the pilgrims were abducted in Aleppo shortly after entering Syria from neighboring Turkey.
Al-Jazeera showed images of men said to be among the kidnap victims as well as passports.
But Nasrallah called on the abductors to “put the issue of the innocents aside” and solve their problem with Hizbullah.
“We have said that the abductees are Lebanese citizens and that therefore the state is responsible for their dignity and for freeing them and we are helping the state as political parties. The state and the top officials are exerting serious efforts to reach a happy ending,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday.
Al-Jadeed revealed Tuesday that the families of the abductees will soon hold a press conference to unveil the identity of the kidnappers.
The TV network said a top Lebanese leader has refused to meet with the families, noting that they decided to stage protests “after the state failed to reach a solution.”
“Where is the U.N.? Where is the Red Cross? Where are human rights organizations,” read a banner carried by a protester during Tuesday’s sit-in.
Other protesters carried banners reading “Free Our Captives.”
Meanwhile, MTV reported that “some women who took part in the sit-in on the airport road had tried to block the road in both directions” but that “members of certain parties asked them to leave the place.”
Source: Naharnet
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