Mustaqbal Says Hizbullah Knows Turks' Location, Urges Party to Help Liberate Them

The al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday noted that Hizbullah probably knows the location of the two abducted Turkish pilots, urging the party to help liberate them from the grip of their kidnappers.

“Perhaps Hizbullah is the party that has the most information about the exact location of the hostages and about the identity of those who committed this crime, therefore it has to help liberate the two hostages … because there is no doubt that the continued abduction of the duo will reflect negatively on Lebanon and all the Lebanese and that the country will be severely harmed,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting.

"The bloc strongly condemns the terrorist kidnap crime against a Turkish Airlines pilot and co-pilot on the airport road, which recalls to the minds of the Lebanese and the public opinion the nightmares of the ominous kidnap operations that were staged by Hizbullah-affiliated terrorist factions and wings against citizens and foreigners in the eighties of last century,” the bloc added.

And as al-Mustaqbal reiterated its condemnation of the continued abduction of the nine Lebanese pilgrims in Syria's Aazaz and urged their immediate release, it described the kidnap of the Turks as a "blatant aggression against the Lebanese state and its sovereignty and prestige and against its political and security institutions," warning that it “subjects Lebanon to all forms of political, security and economic threats.”

"Hizbullah's silence over the crime and its failure to prevent it ... or to at least condemn it indicates that this party is carrying on with the policy of drowning the country in a cycle of blackmail and intimidation, in order to put the political and security decisions and the issue of forming the new cabinet under the pressure of terrorism and the hegemony of arms and to open the door to all kinds of evils against Lebanon and the Lebanese,” it added.

The bloc warned that the abduction “will only lead to further pressures on Lebanon and the Lebanese” and that “it will not fulfill the objectives of those who committed this act, who want to press the Turkish state to exert its own pressures on the kidnappers” of the Lebanese pilgrims.

Turning to the "crimes that are happening in the northern Bekaa area, including the assassination attempt against Arsal's municipal chief in the al-Labweh area … and the continued threats to repeat the attempt … are aimed at inciting strife among the residents of the one country and one region and the sons of the same religion.”

The bloc urged security forces to arrest the perpetrators and hold them accountable, calling on Arsal's residents "not to be dragged into any confrontation and to leave things to the official security agencies."

On the cabinet formation process, al-Mustaqbal called on President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to "practice their constitutional duties and rights in forming a new cabinet before it's too late," warning that the continued procrastination will "undermine the fragile stability in the country."