Charbel Says up to Suleiman and Salam to Bring him Back to Cabinet

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Friday that he would remain neutral in the political divisions in Lebanon and that it was up to President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to bring him back to the new government.

In remarks to Free Lebanon radio, Charbel said: “I haven't talked with PM-designate Tammam Salam about politics.”

“I am neutral and I will stay that way whether I was in the government or not,” he said.

Charbel stressed that the choice of giving him back the portfolio of the interior ministry was the job of Suleiman and Salam.

His comment came after An Nahar daily published the names of possible candidates. Charbel's name was on the list.

Asked about nine Lebanese pilgrims who have been held hostage by rebels in Syria since May 2012, Charbel said he would have brought them back to Lebanon a year ago had he been able to use force to free them.

The caretaker minister said Turkey, which is mediating along with Qatar for the release of the pilgrims, “believes there is enough time to bring the file to closure.”

“But for us there isn't enough time,” he said.

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were abducted on their way back home by land from Iran. Two of them were released last year but the rest remain held in the Syrian town of Aazaz in the northern province of Aleppo that lies near the Turkish border.

Their families have been lately stopping Syrian workers in Beirut from going to work in a bid to put pressure on those holding their relatives.

The kidnapping was claimed by a man who identified himself as Abu Ibrahim and says he is a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army, but the opposition group denies any involvement in the abductions.