Syrian rebels free kidnapped Lebanese

26 Aug 2012, 11:27 am   -   Source: AAP
Syrian rebels have freed one of 11 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims they have been holding hostage. (AAP)

Syrian rebels have freed one of 11 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims they have been holding hostage. (AAP)

Syrian rebels have freed one of 11 Lebanese hostages after three months, following intervention by Turkey and in a bid to ease cross-border tensions.

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Syrian rebels have freed one of 11 Lebanese Shi'ite 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 on Saturday as he crossed into Turkey after his release, urging the Lebanese and Arabs to support the Syrian people in the midst of their country's escalating civil war.

Omar later arrived in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, aboard a private Turkish jet.

"Our treatment (by the Syrian captors) was excellent and the Lebanese (hostages) are well," said Omar, wearing a white shirt and a red tie bearing an image of the Turkish flag. "I am wearing it in recognition of Turkey's efforts to free me," he said of the tie.

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, who the rebels captured near the Syrian capital of Damascus and accused of being a member of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. The al-Mikdad clan, which later released most of the Syrians it was holding except for four, is a powerful Shi'ite Muslim family in Lebanon.

The Shi'ite pilgrims were abducted on May 22 after crossing into Syria from Turkey on their way to Lebanon. A previously unknown group calling itself "Syrian Rebels in Aleppo" claimed responsibility.

The group demanded that the leader of the powerful Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, apologise for his comments in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Nasrallah, an ally of Assad's regime, has said the abduction would not change Hezbollah's stance.

Mohammed Nour, a rebel spokesman in the Syrian northern town of Azaz, said in a statement read on TV that the release was in response to a request by Lebanon's Association of Muslim Scholars and an adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Nour did not say what they will do with the remaining 10 pilgrims, but repeated his call for Hezbollah to "specify their stance regarding the Syrian people and revolution".

Syria's 18-month crisis has spilled over into neighbouring Lebanon, where pro- and anti-Syrian group have clashed since Monday in the northern city of Tripoli. The latest violence in Tripoli killed at least 17 and wounded more than a 100 wounded.

In Syria, activists reported clashes between rebels and government troops as well as shelling in different areas including the northern province of Aleppo, the district of Idlib, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour and Daraa in the south. The activists also reported violence in some suburbs of the capital, Damascus, including Daraya, which government troops stormed on Thursday.

The state-run SANA news agency reported heavy clashes in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial capital, saying that "many terrorists" were killed or wounded. The Syrian regime frequently refers to those who oppose it as "terrorists".

Aleppo has been the scene of heavy fighting for nearly a month since rebels launched an assault on the city, seizing control of several neighbourhoods. The regime has waged a fierce offensive in a bid to regain control of the city, but so far has struggled to snuff out the rebel offensive.

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