Families of Abducted Pilgrims Suspend Actions against Turkish Interests at Charbel's Request
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The families of the pilgrims kidnapped in Syria reportedly took the decision to suspend their actions against Turkish interests in Lebanon, said LBCI television on Wednesday.
It said that the decision was made after a delegation from the families met with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, who requested that they suspend their escalatory measures.
Earlier on Wednesday, the families of the nine pilgrims staged a sit-in outside the headquarters of Turkish Airlines in downtown Beirut, preventing staff from entering their offices, to press for the release of their loved ones.
The relatives sealed the door of the offices on the second floor of al-Azarieh building with red wax.
The early morning rally near Mohammed al-Amin mosque came amid a heavy deployment of security forces although Charbel said the roads in the area remained open.
“We hope that Turkey would understand the position of the families and would continue to help us” in setting the nine men free, he told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).
In other remarks to VDL (100.5), Charbel said: “I don't blame the families on condition they don't obstruct the efforts we are exerting in the case.”
The spokesman of the protesters, Adham Zgheib, said the sit-in will be followed by a campaign to boycott Turkish products and interests.
He urged Lebanese officials to put a timeframe for their efforts to resolve the case.
Last week, the Higher Islamic Shiite Council urged the families to exercise more patience and await the results of ongoing efforts to free the hostages.
Its statement came following a meeting between the council’s vice president, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan and Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who was tasked by the Council to follow up the case of the nine men.
Zgheib told the National News Agency that Wednesday's sit-in came as part of the “peaceful measures that the families are undertaking against Turkish interests in Lebanon.”
On Christmas, the families briefly blocked the road to the presidential palace in Baabda. A few days earlier, they staged a sit-in near the Turkish Embassy, vowing to take escalatory measures against Turkish interests at the beginning of the new year.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo district on May 22 as they were making their way back by land from a pilgrimage in Iran.
One was released in late August and another in September, while the rest remain in the town of Aazaz in Aleppo.
The families have accused Turkey for being complicit in the kidnapping and blamed Ankara for providing cover for the captors.
The head of the kidnapping gang said in December he will not release the men unless the Syrian government sets free two prominent opposition figures and Lebanon frees Syrian activists who are allegedly in government custody.
Amar al-Dadikhi of the North Storm brigade, also known as Abu Ibrahim, wants Tal al-Mallohi and Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush to be released, said the New York Times.
Abu Ibrahim, who allowed the newspaper’s journalists to meet with two of the hostages, also demanded that Lebanon release anti-Assad activists it had allegedly arrested since the uprising against the Syrian president began in March 2011.
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.
02 January 2013, 06:52
312
Maybe we can borrow some red wax from those families to seal the Syrian embassy until all our kidnapped citizens are returned by the Asaad regime. Or should this be added to the agenda for the postponed dialogue table (remove all red wax from all civilians and confine it only to the State).
02 January 2013, 07:21
311
These pilgrims would be back with their families a long time ago if the government, and by government I mean hezbollahs mouthpiece took a stance against the Syrian government. I can't start imagining the pain they must be feeling everyday, hopefully the regime will fall soon enough, for their familie's sake
02 January 2013, 07:22
39
wow this makes so much sense! disrupt air travel of a country where your kidnapped relatives are not even in!!!
02 January 2013, 09:58
17
It doesn't have to make sense, the people behind these protestors are just trying to damage Lebanon as much as possible in order to make it easier for them to market to neo-Assad regime they are going to try to impose on us soon. Step one, isolate Lebanon from its natural allies and ally it with pariah states.
02 January 2013, 17:22
03
Sidon, trust me, they are wasting their time, no one can isolate us now, try as hard as they want, their battle is long since over.
02 January 2013, 07:24
07
so the demands of the kidnapper is for the Syrian and Lebanese authorities to release opposition figures... yet the families are protesting against turkish interests... Logic Level = Lebanese
02 January 2013, 08:10
07
Why travel through a country in war in the first place, talk about stupidity. Are they so uneducated so they dont follow the news? "My belief is stronger than bullets"!!
02 January 2013, 10:04
06
Only in Lebanon do we allow a bunch of backwards villagers to drag our name through the mud like this. Trying to avenge the kidnappings by attacking Turkish interests in Lebanon reveals that these people are being manipulated by the M8 political cabal.
02 January 2013, 10:25
07
This is getting more stupid with every turn. What have the Turks have to do with this? Their people were kidnapped by the FSA, the issue then is with the FSA and the Syrian authorities. Why can't these damn idiots leave this country to breathe a little. Why can't we be allowed to live like normal human beings, at least make plans for the next month without having to worry about these blinking idiots whose only job is to hijack our peace?! And what is the state doing, leaving them to disrupt people's lives? Closing an airline will only increase the level of hatred for what could have been a noble cause.
02 January 2013, 11:10
07
These stupid backwards people is the main reason why other countries have discouraged their citizens from traveling here. The government should take much stricter measures, but is so incompetent, it doesn't see it.
02 January 2013, 11:49
09
The families should be tried for disrupting civil order. They're thugs just like the kidnapeeeees.
02 January 2013, 12:55
08
They should seal the big mouth of Nousralla with yellow wax...
02 January 2013, 14:56
07
Lebanese have been in syrian jails for years, with nothing to protest but a timid sit in next to UNRWA.
But if these "pilgrims" get kidnapped due to the arrogance of Nasrallah, their families have the arrogance to take concrete steps to hurt our country.
They should take their case to Nasrallah. arent they chiites? didnt they vote for HA in the elections as one block? They should take it up with him. maybe he does a commando operation to release them.
02 January 2013, 17:31
05
OK, the latest title now says, "Families Suspend action". Good for them because as things are now, they've lost all sympathy from most Lebanese, in fact now turned into sheer hatred. If they still have anything to do, they can do it in a civilized manner, like have now done the families of thousands of Lebanese prisoners still languishing in Syrian jails.
02 January 2013, 19:29
06
God forgive me if in wrong but I'm pretty sure most of those prisoners are Hezbollah. Maybe soon if their families are patient they ll join them in Syrian prisons when the FSA takes over.
02 January 2013, 20:02
06
Not Hezbollah ya canadianadam, but "religious pilgrims" who happen to be able-bodied young men and decided to travel by land through a war torn country.
See, you have to come up with code words for Hezbollah and its agents. Meqdad clan, religious pilgrims, "youths in the Dahieh neighborhood" etc. etc. etc.... we can't ever admit that Hezbollah is up to anything bad. Or else.
02 January 2013, 20:35
15
M8 propaganda money must be running dry. Not one of them is here with their childish rhetoric.
03 January 2013, 01:50
02
The Hezz killing in Syria created the problem. Let the Hezz clean their own mess. Lebanon always has to clean up the Hezz messes.
