Report: Charbel to Head to Qatar to Negotiate Release of Abducted Pilgrims

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel vowed on Thursday to negotiate the release of the kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims in Syria, reported Future television.

He made his pledge during a meeting he held with the families of the pilgrims, saying that he will head to Doha, Qatar in order to carry out the negotiations.

The announcement came in light of a sit-in the families had held on Thursday at the Qatari Embassy in Beirut.

The families then ended their sit-in in return for Charbel's pledge.

They had held the demonstration in front of the embassy to protest the failure of the release of the nine pilgrims.

The angry families criticized the government's failure in achieving the release of their loved ones a day after a prisoner swap was staged between the Syrian regime and the Free Syrian Army that witnessed the release of 48 Iranian hostages held by the rebels in exchange for 2,000 regime prisoners.

The families accused the government of neglecting the case of the pilgrims, with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel being blamed for the negligence.

The minister told LBCI television that the case of the abduction will be resolved, stressing that government efforts “will yield results.”

The families of the pilgrims attempted to enter the embassy building in an effort to prevent staff from heading to their offices, but they were prevented by the security forces at the premisses.

The area was soon cordoned off.

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo district in May as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage in Iran.

Two of the captives were released last year, while the rest remain held in Aazaz.

The families of the pilgrims had held Turkey and Qatar responsible for releasing their loved ones.

Late in 2012, the families had also vowed to stage escalatory measures against Turkish interests in Lebanon in order to pressure Turkey to exert efforts to end the abduction, but they called off their actions at Charbel's request.