REPORT: Jreissati: Aazaz hostages are in a safe area inside Syria

Caretaker Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said on Friday that the Aazaz hostages are in good health, adding that they are in a safe area inside Syria.       

Following a meeting for the ministerial committee tasked with following up on the file of the Lebanese hostages held in Syria's Aazaz, Minister Jreissati denounced the kidnapping of the Turkish nationals in Lebanon, pointing out that the committee is negotiating on behalf of the Lebanese state.                         

Jreissati added that the latest clashes in Syria’s Aazaz did not have any effect on the negotiations, stating that talks on the release of the hostages have reached an advanced stage.                

Earlier, the relatives of the hostages in Aazaz staged a sit-in outside the offices of the Turkish Airlines and the Turkish Cultural Center in Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square. Sheikh Abbas Zgheib assigned by the Shiite Islamic Council to follow up on the case asserted that escalatory steps will be implemented in order to put an end to the case.                   

He also declared that a Human Rights association will file a lawsuit against the Turkish government in this regard.                     

On Friday the 9th of August, gunmen intercepted a Turkish Airlines' bus at the Cocodi Bridge in Beirut and kidnapped two crew members, a pilot and a co-pilot. The bus carrying the crew members was heading from the Beirut International Airport towards a hotel in Ain El-Mrayseh.             
While well-informed sources linked the abduction to the case of the Lebanese hostages held in Aazaz, the relatives of the Aazaz hostages denied being involved in the operation.             

The incident triggered a chain of reactions mainly from the Turkish side, the most prominent being the call launched by the Turkish foreign ministry on its nationals to leave Lebanon.          
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped on their way back from Iran by insurgents hoping to use them for a prisoner swap on the 22nd of May. Only two have so far been released.             
Their families have vowed to continue their movements until all their loved ones have returned home "safe and sound". They accuse Ankara of sponsoring the kidnapping and the Lebanese government of inaptness in this regard.


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