LEBANON: Families of the Lebanese hostages in the southern suburbs of Beirut are cautiously happy for their sons' release and are waiting to receive them

Record ID: 431324

  • Title: LEBANON: Families of the Lebanese hostages in the southern suburbs of Beirut are cautiously happy for their sons' release and are waiting to receive them
  • Date: 19th October 2013
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (OCTOBER 19, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF STREET IN THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF BEIRUT WHERE THE FAMILIES OF THE LEBANESE HOSTAGES ARE GATHERING MORE OF THE FAMILIES BANNER READING (Arabic): "YOU PILGRIMS LEFT YOUR HOMELAND AND YOU CAME BACK AFTER BEING FREED - AND YOU HAVE SCORED A GREAT VICTORY IN THE PASSAGE OF TIME " MORE OF THE BANNER POSTER OF LEBANON SECURI
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,International Relations,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ESDQR1V97EH4GY06I2B7P30W
  • Story Text: Nine Lebanese citizens held by rebels in northern Syria since May 2012 have been released, caretaker Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told Reuters on Friday (October 18).
    On Saturday (October 19) the families of the hostages were cautiously waiting in Southern Beirut for their return.
    Eleven Lebanese Shi'ites were seized last year by the Northern Storm brigade while on their way home from a pilgrimage to Shi'ite religious sites in Iran, their families said. Two were later released.
    Charbel said the story is over, and they will be in Lebanon in the next 24 hours. He later told Lebanese radio that the men had crossed into southern Turkey.
    The families of those nine hostages are happy for the good news but still waiting to be sure.
    "We heard yesterday on TV that they had reached the borders of Turkey in safe hands. And our happiness is surely great, we can't express how happy we are, we are so happy and thank God," said Mona Termoss, wife of hostages Ali Termoss.
    Daniel Chouaib, whose brother Abbas Chouaib is also one of the nine hostages, was more cautious.
    "My happiness is still cautiously felt. I haven't seen them being officially received. I will be only be happy once Turkey say in an official statement that they have been received," said Daniel Chouaib.
    Sunni rebels have for more than two years been fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
    The civil war has acquired a sectarian dimension, as Shi'ite Iran backs Assad and the Shi'ite Lebanese Hezbollah militia fights alongside the Syrian army against the rebellion.
    The families of the nine Lebanese say they were religious pilgrims but their kidnappers accused them of belonging to Hezbollah.
    Their return to Lebanon will raise hopes for the release of two Turkish pilots who were abducted in Beirut on August 9 by the families of the nine Lebanese, who accused Turkey of doing too little to win their release.
    A Lebanese security source quoted a member of the Shi'ite family holding the pilots as saying the men, who appeared in a video this week saying they were in good health, were likely to be released soon.
    Doha-based Al Jazeera television earlier on Friday quoted Qatar's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah as saying that the Lebanese were released after Qatari mediation.
    Qatar has been a major political backer of the Syrian opposition during a civil war which has left over 100,000 dead, according to the United Nations.
    Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement the release of the nine came about with the help of Qatar's al-Attiyah, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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