Freed pilgrim: The Lebanese hostages are well

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SYRIAN rebels have freed one of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims they have been holding for three months, in a move aimed at easing cross-border tensions after a wave of abductions of Syrian citizens in Lebanon.

Hussein Ali Omar, 60, appeared healthy in an interview aired on Qatar’s al-Jazeera TV as he crossed into Turkey after his release. He later arrived in Beirut aboard a private Turkish jet.

”Our treatment [by the Syrian captors] was excellent and the Lebanese [hostages] are well,” Mr Omar said.

The release came a week after Lebanese tribesmen kidnapped two Turks and more than 20 Syrians to force the rebels to release Lebanese citizen Hassane al-Mikdad, whom the rebels captured near Damascus and accused of being a member of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The al-Mikdad clan later released all but four of the Syrians it was holding.

Mohammed Nour, a rebel spokesman in the northern Syrian town of Azaz, did not say what they would do with the remaining 10 pilgrims.

Photo: Free Lebanese pilgrim Hussein Omar hugs his mother. Photo: Reuters

The age/ AP

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3 responses to “Freed pilgrim: The Lebanese hostages are well”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    There is NOTHING like a hug from Dear Old Mom. And nothing for her like one from the child.
    No matter how weird the political or religious thinking, that emotional moment is the only godly one in life.
    Think of what ‘war’ really destroys.

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    There is NOTHING like a hug from Dear Old Mom. And nothing for her like one from the child.
    No matter how weird the political or religious thinking, that emotional moment is the only godly one in life.
    Think of what ‘war’ really destroys.

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