Families of Kidnapped Pilgrims Pressure Suleiman on Fate of Loved Ones
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The families of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria last month held talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace on Friday, a meeting that An Nahar daily expected to witness a severe criticism against the government’s inability to secure their release.
The newspaper quoted members of the committee that visited Suleiman along with MPs Ali Ammar and Ghazi Zoaiter as saying the president will hear severe criticism over the government’s management of the file 24 days after the abduction of the men in the northern province of Aleppo by armed men.
The delegation will also ask the president as to why he didn’t ask for the assistance of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during his Gulf tour last week, it said.
“We are surprised how our president didn’t ask for the assistance of these states that enjoy good ties with the Syrian opposition,” the sources told An Nahar.
They also said the delegation will inform Suleiman that the families will begin losing patience although they have been exercising self-restraint under the request of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement.
The families might ask Suleiman to pay a ransom that the kidnappers have been reportedly asking for, An Nahar said as Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said the negotiations with the rebels reached the starting point.
Last week, the rebels holding the pilgrims said they will free them when a "civil state" sees the day in Syria but also left the door open to negotiations for their release, Al-Jazeera television reported.
The abductors’ statement was accompanied by a video of the 11 men aired on the Qatar-based channel.
On June 1, al-Jazeera quoted a previously unknown armed group, the "Syrian Revolutionaries -- Aleppo Province", as saying they were holding the Lebanese pilgrims who went missing on May 22.
In both videos aired by al-Jazeera, the abductors have demanded an apology from Nasrallah. But no mention has been made on a ransom.
15 June 2012, 11:35
32
@mowaten
you talk about fanatics: what is hizbushaitan?
you talk about far right: what are Ft, kaim and yourself?
you talk about paid propagandists: what are Ft, kaim and yourself?
you come to a website where moderate people try to discuss events, and you guys bring constant insults, nazist ideas of killing or manning everyone else with whom you disagree, tagging them with wahhabi lovers, israeli agents and so on...
honestly you make me laugh :)
16 June 2012, 07:56
20
HA is a the 1st civilian killer, they hide behind their own civillians, they threat to kill civilians either in Israel or in Akkar or Syria
15 June 2012, 14:21
11
ummm i thought they were gonna be realased this week???i think the "worthless 11" need to realase another block buster movie,so Ellen can request em on her show.Long Live The Syrian Civil War!
15 June 2012, 14:34
02
i dont think fakhamto can do anything..he went to U.A.E. to discuss tourism and their decision to restrict the coming of their citizens to lebanon.. they issued a confirmation of their restriction just after he left. observe the empty hotels...aley bhamdoun hammana falougha broummana jounieh,its a battle between china russia and the west through wahabies and farsis, and in lebanon bidoun daff mnirkos.
15 June 2012, 16:47
00
The photo reminds me of the mothers of Lebanese kidnapped by the Syrians and their friend lingering in Syrian jails, too bad they are not Shiites for Lebanon's supreme leader Hassan the Groundhog to care about their fate. Assad says they never existed and he's always been truthful, right?
15 June 2012, 16:50
10
Actually they look like Imad Moughnieh, Mohammad Raad and Ali Ammar, the video reminds me of a "loyalty to the resistance" meeting.
15 June 2012, 21:07
01
I'm for the Syrian revolution against the butcher of Damascus but holding the 11 Lebanese is counter-productive and they should be released to their families immediately.
