LEBANON: Protesters block Beirut's main airport road after Syrian rebels allegedly kidnap Lebanese Shi'ites in Syria; Hezbollah leader . Nasrallah calls for restraint.

Record ID: 280863

  • Title: LEBANON: Protesters block Beirut's main airport road after Syrian rebels allegedly kidnap Lebanese Shi'ites in Syria; Hezbollah leader . Nasrallah calls for restraint.
  • Date: 23rd May 2012
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (MAY 22, 2012) (REUTERS) MORE OF MAR MIKHAEL ROAD IN BEIRUT'S SOUTHERN SUBURBS CLOSED BY BURNING TYRES
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7WU0019JAZKZKZF261XCLR4HV
  • Story Text: The leader of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group called for calm on Tuesday (May 22) after Syrian rebels allegedly kidnapped at least 13 Lebanese returning from Iran.
    Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's appeal followed protests by angry relatives of the abducted men who were returning from a pilgrimage.
    ''The responsibility lies with the state and we call on everyone to be restrained, completely and truly. We can express our stance in civil and peaceful ways and we are going to work day and night so we can have those loved ones among us," Nasrallah told Hezbollah's Al Manar television station.
    Families of the men said to have been abducted in northern Syrian city of Aleppo burned tyres and blocked several streets in south Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah and home to many of the abducted men.
    Nasrallah urged them to keep calm.
    ''No one should resort to cutting off roads. What happened a short time ago, the cutting off of roads, we honestly say that we don't want any side to take advantage of that to stir trouble with the Lebanese army or the security forces," he urged his followers.
    The families said a bus loaded with Shi'ite pilgrims was stopped by the Free Syrian Army as it crossed the Turkish border to Syria on the way back from Iran. They said the rebels demanded that their men be freed by the Syrian army in exchange for the release of the Lebanese.
    The Free Syrian Army is locked in a conflict with the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who has faced months of protests against his rule.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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