Zgheib Urges Iran to Exert Efforts to Free Lebanese Pilgrims

Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who has been tasked by the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to follow up the case of the abducted Lebanese pilgrims, called on Saturday on Iran to exert efforts to free the nine men.

“We briefed the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon (Ghazanfar Roknabadi) on our endeavors and urged him to call on his country to resolve the case,” Zgheib told reporters after talks with the Iranian diplomat.

He quoted Roknabadi as saying: “Iran has been exerting its efforts since the abduction of the men to free them as its policy is based on defending those who are oppressed.”

Earlier on Saturday, the relatives of the kidnapped men held in Syria's Aazaz region staged a sit-in near the Turkish airlines offices in al-Azariyeh building in downtown Beirut.

Eleven pilgrims were kidnapped in May 2012 in northern Syria's Aleppo province as they returned by land from a pilgrimage in Iran. Two of them were released in August and September.

They were later taken to the Aleppo town of Aazaz.

The kidnapping was claimed by a man who identified himself as Abu Ibrahim and says he is a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army, but the opposition group denies any involvement in the abductions.

On Thursday, the relatives held a sit-in in front of the French Embassy in Beirut.

The vowed in a statement to “escalate our actions and stage sit-ins in front of the embassies of all countries that support the Syrian opposition.”

Earlier this month, the relatives of the nine men vowed to target Turkish interests in Lebanon, calling on the citizens to boycott all Turkish products.

They threatened to protest near Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport and to halt inbound and outbound flights.