Meqdad Clan Frees Six Syrians as 'Goodwill Gesture'
Six Syrians taken hostages by al-Moqdad clan earlier this month have been released, the family’s spokesman Maher al-Meqdad announced on Saturday.
“This comes as goodwill gesture,” he told LBCI.
However, he pointed out that four other Syrians and a Turkish national will remain captives until the release of Hassan Salim al-Meqdad, who was allegedly kidnapped by the Free Syrian Army in Damascus in August.
Al-Meqdad family’s, previously unknown, military wing kidnapped several Syrians and a Turkish citizen, Aidan Toufan, in retaliation for the abduction Hassan.
"This has nothing to do with the release of one of the 11 hostages in Syria, clan spokesman Maher Muqdad told Agence France Presse, adding that four other Syrians and a Turkish national are still being held.
Another Turkish national has also been kidnapped but it was not clear who was behind his abduction.
Earlier this month, an obscure group calling itself al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi Brigade has also claimed the abduction of several Syrians in Lebanon, with the aim of swapping them for 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Aleppo in May.
However, on Saturday media reports said that the group has released four of the Syrian captives.
Unverified reports that 4 of the pilgrims had been killed in an air strike on the northern Syrian town of Aazaz earlier this month triggered a spate of violence against Syrians present in Lebanon.
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