Report: General Security Chief Hints Abducted Pilgrims will be Freed 'Soon'

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim hinted that the case of the abducted Lebanese pilgrims in Syria will be resolved soon, without specifying any date, An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, Ibrahim met with the families of the kidnapped men on Saturday away from media spot light.

Leaked information to the daily said that Ibrahim didn't set any date for the release of the 9 men, however, he hinted that they will be freed anytime soon.

The report also said that head of Iqra Association Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq recently headed to Istanbul but he failed to meet any of the mediators.

The families of the kidnapped pilgrims lashed out at Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who has been tasked by the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to follow up the case of the abducted Lebanese pilgrims in Syria, pointing out that he doesn't represent them.

They called on Abu Ibrahim, the head of the so-called Northern Storm Brigade, who kidnapped eleven Lebanese pilgrims in the northern province of Aleppo on May 22 as they were returning home from Iran, to “swiftly release the abductees, as he knows that they are innocent.”

One abductee was released in August in what his captors said was a “goodwill” gesture and another was released in September.

The kidnappers had repeatedly linked the release of the Lebanese captives to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a close ally of the Syrian regime, apologizing over his stances on the Syrian revolt.

Media reports said that four of the remaining nine Lebanese pilgrims will be released by the end of November but Zgheib denied the matter.