Suleiman Urges Turkey for More Efforts to Release Lebanese Pilgrims Kidnapped in Syria
President Michel Suleiman asked Turkey on Tuesday to exert more efforts in releasing Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo province since last May, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Suleiman's request came during talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Doha.
Suleiman asked Davutoglu “for Turkey to exert all efforts to release the nine Lebanese abductees in Syria,” said NNA.
Armed rebels abducted eleven pilgrims on May 22 last year while on their way home by land from Iran. Two of them were released in August and September but the fate of the nine others remains unclear.
They were last seen in the Syrian town of Aazaz in Aleppo province.
Turkey is a strong backer of the revolution against Syrian President Bashar Assad. It has previously claimed that it was mediating for their release.
Their kidnapper Amar al-Dadikhi of the North Storm brigade, also known as Abu Ibrahim, told the New York Times last December that he will not release the men unless the Syrian government sets free two prominent opposition figures and Lebanon frees all Syrian activists in government custody.
The two opposition figures whose release he has sought by name — Tal al-Mallohi and Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush — have not been heard from during the hostages’ detention. Many activists fear that they are dead, said the New York Times.
Abu Ibrahim demanded that Lebanon release anti-Assad activists it had allegedly arrested since the uprising began. He said he did not have a count of activists in Lebanese custody, but he suggested that the number could be up to a hundred.
Suleiman's meeting with the Turkish foreign minister came as the families of the pilgrims threatened to escalate their measures at the beginning of April if their case wasn't resolved soon.
They held a protest near the Arab Justice Ministers headquarters in Beirut's Sami Solh area before briefly blocking the road near the Justice Palace.
Also on the sidelines of the Arab summit, Suleiman held brief talks with several Arab leaders including the Tunisian president and Saudi Arabia's crown prince.
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