Lebanese hostages in Syria released

Nine Lebanese citizens kidnapped by rebels in Syria last year have been freed, Lebanon's Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said.

Relatives of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped last May in Syria hold a placard and shout slogans during a protest in front of the Qatari embassy in Beirut. (Getty)

"The nine Lebanese held in Syria are on their way to Turkey," he told AFP.

   

The former hostages "are in a secure place and are ready to enter Lebanon," Lebanese Prime Minister Njib Migati said in a statement, citing the country's security chief.

   

The release comes after a senior Lebanese security official travelled to Damascus to discuss a prisoner exchange deal to free the group, who were abducted in Syria's northern Aleppo province in May 2012 as their families said they were returning from a pilgrimage to Iran.

   

At the same time, Turkey said two Turkish Airlines pilots who were abducted in Lebanon in August are close to being freed.

   

The pilots were kidnapped by a previously unknown group which said it had seized the pair to secure the release of nine Lebanese citizens who had been kidnapped in Syria.