Minister Charbel: Location of kidnapped Turkish pilots is still unknown

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Wednesday that security forces haven’t yet been able to identify the location where the two Turkish pilots are being held; pointing out that the kidnappers are transferring them from one Lebanese region to another.                 

Minister Charbel added to al-Sharq al-Awasat newspaper that the atmosphere regarding the pilots’ release remains positive.                          

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.