Charbel Says he Received Pledges not to Block Airport Road Again

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed Wednesday that the families of 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria have vowed not to block the Beirut airport road again.

In remarks to An Nahar daily, Charbel said: “The airport road will not be blocked.”

After the angry families closed it on Monday night, “we succeeded in reopening it after receiving pledges that it will never be blocked again.”

“Hizbullah and Amal played an important role in reopening the road,” he said.

The problem that the Lebanese authorities are facing in the case of the Shiite pilgrims is that the demands of the kidnappers are not clear, the minister said.

“That’s why our contact was and still is with Turkey which has advised us to keep the issue away from the media,” he added.

Charbel did not blame the families on their angry reactions to the failure to set the pilgrims free, saying they had the full compassion of the Lebanese people.

The families of the pilgrims, who were kidnaped by armed men in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on May 22, made a thinly veiled threat on Tuesday of abducting Turkish citizens in Lebanon.

Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who has been tasked by the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to follow up the case, said during a protest outside the Turkish embassy in Rabieh that “the families will do what they deem necessary.”

Turkey and Qatar, which have aligned themselves with the Syrian opposition, should pressure the abductors to “end the tragedy.”

“If the issue isn’t resolved soon, the Turks will be our guests,” he said.