Ali Abbas Says Abducted Pilgrims Blame Person 'Who Has Refused to Apologize'

One of the abducted Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in Syria on Sunday confirmed that the 11 kidnapped men are in the remote Aleppo area of Aazaz, blaming Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, without naming him, for their protracted captivity.

“We are in good health and we are in the remote Aazaz area which is liberated and not witnessing any bombardment,” abductee Ali Abbas said in a phone interview with LBCI.

Addressing the Lebanese officials, Abbas added: “We have been outside Lebanon for three months now and we don't know what you are waiting for. You are liars and we don't know why you have abandoned us.”

“We are the victims of a futile state and useless officials,” Abbas went on to say.

Asked whom he was referring to, the abductee answered: “I'm referring to the person who has refused to apologize and I'm speaking in the name of everyone here.”

A previously unknown armed group calling itself "Syrian Revolutionaries - Aleppo Countryside" on May 31 claimed the 11 Lebanese pilgrims were in its custody.

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 his latest speech.”

“We have decided to keep the Lebanese abductees after we learned that some of them are involved in the crimes and massacres committed by the regime and they are currently under interrogation,” a man who identified himself as Abu Abdullah al-Halabi, the group’s spokesman, told Al-Jazeera back then.

“Our message to Nasrallah is that it is prohibited to enter Syria and shed the blood of Syrians,” al-Halabi added.

Addressing the abductors in a speech on May 25, Nasrallah said: "If this abduction was aimed at putting pressure on our position (of support for Syria)," it failed.

“We condemn your act and the kidnapping of the innocent harms your cause,” he added.

Syrian state media has said the kidnapping took place near the Aleppo town of Aazaz, which sits along the border with Turkey. It said the 11 men were part of a group of 53 pilgrims on board two buses.

The women were allowed to go free and returned to Beirut by plane on May 23. In his speech, Nasrallah thanked Syrian authorities and President Bashar Assad for providing the plane that transported the women to Beirut hours after the abduction of the men.

Speaking to LBCI on Sunday, Ali Hussein Zgheib, another abductee, said: “It seems that we are only numbers and I would have liked to see more attention from the president and all the MPs.”

“There are reluctant and meaningless initiatives and they should have talked to our hosts,” Zgheib said, adding that “had there been successful negotiations, we would have been freed.”

One of the abductors, who identified himself as Abu Ibrahim, told LBCI: “There is no problem in releasing the hostages but they are happy here and God willing they will return soon to their families.”

“We have fears concerning the checkpoints they will have to cross and concerning Assad’s gangs,” Abu Ibrahim added.

In another interview with the Beirut-based, pan-Arab television al-Mayadeen, Abu Ibrahim said: “Remarks that the abductees would be released in the month of Ramadan are baseless and they have not been released for security reasons.”

Abu Ibrahim added that he has not negotiated with anyone over the release of the abductees.

“I have not negotiated with anyone and I don’t anything about all the remarks broadcast on television. There are brokers who are only after money and we have not demanded any sum of money at all,” the presumed kidnapper added.

He stressed that the hostages “are on Syrian territory and Turkey has nothing to do with them.”

Abu Ibrahim said Ankara had tried to negotiate with his group several times, but added that he asked the Turkish officials to stop trying because “this is a domestic Syrian issue.”

He noted that he is a civilian who joined the armed rebellion and not a “defected officer.”