Report: Nine Pilgrims Released in Exchange for 150 Million Dollars
Progress in the release of the nine Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region was achieved by Qatar on Wednesday, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Saturday.
A Turkish source told the daily that Qatar crowned its negotiations with the kidnappers by paying them 150 million dollars for the release of the pilgrims who were abducted in Syria's Aleppo region in May 2012.
The deal also included that General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim and Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya would accompany the pilgrims from Turkey, where they were released, to Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.
Ibrahim had said on Friday that the pilgrims could be in Lebanon within 48 hours.
He had traveled to Istanbul during the week in order to put the finishing touches to the captives' release.
Al-Liwaa added that as part of the deal, Qatar sought to receive guarantees from Ibrahim that the two Turkish pilots kidnapped in Lebanon in August were doing well.
The consequent release of a video of the pilots on Tuesday was part of that deal, the Turkish source told the daily.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region in May 2012 as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage in Iran. Two of them were released in late 2012.
The abductors, the rebel Northern Storm Brigade, had demanded the release of 282 women detainees from Syrian prisons in return for the nine remaining men.
On August 9, gunmen abducted two Turkish pilots after ambushing a bus carrying Turkish Airlines crew from Rafik Hariri International Airport to a hotel in the city.
The families of the Lebanese abductees accuse Turkey of being behind the kidnapping. They, however, have denied any involvement in the abduction of the Turkish pilots.
A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam al-Rida claimed the abduction, and demanded that Turkey use its influence with Syrian rebels it backs to secure the release of the nine pilgrims.
Lebanese authorities have since arrested three suspects and charged them in connection with the pilots' abduction.
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