Airplane carrying freed Lebanese hostages departs from Turkey

     
The airplane carrying the freed Lebanese hostages, accompanied with the General Security head Major General Abbas Ibrahim, departed late on Saturday from Turkey's Sabiha airport en route to the Beirut International Airport.           

Meanwhile, the airplane carrying the two Turkish pilots departed from the Beirut airport after caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel had handed them over to Turkish ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz who will escort them to Turkey.        

Officers of Lebanon's General Security will also escort the Turkish pilots after they had earlier transferred them from the Riyak airport in Bekaa to the Beirut airport through an LAF military helicopter.            

This comes after Ibrahim told LBCI that the freed hostages are with him at the Sabiha airport pending the finalization of some measures while sources reported that the two abducted Turkish pilots are now in the custody of Lebanon's General Security.             

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and the Turkish ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz had also arrived to the Beirut International Airport amid tight security measures to receive the freed hostages.                

Earlier in the day, sources said that the released hostages will return to Lebanon on board private Qatari jet along with Maj. Gen. Abbas, the Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Atiyah and the Palestinian ambassador to Turkey, following the role played by the Palestinians in this case upon Lebanon’s request.             

A meeting was also held in Istanbul between Maj. Gen. Ibrahim and one of the Qatari negotiators in order to finalize the release of the hostages.                        

On the other hand, Abbas noted that he is still working on the case of the abducted bishops in Aleppo, stressing that they are in good health.                              

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped on the 22nd of May 2012, on their way back from Iran by insurgents hoping to use them for a prisoner swap. Only two have so far been released.             

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Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told LBCI that that case has ended and the abductees are safe, noting however that their return may be delayed.
           
He added that Qatar had a very important role in the case.         

In this regard, sources told LBCI that the Syrian female detainees released in exchange for the Lebanese hostages in Aazaz, will be handed over to the Syrian opposition in Adana, south of Turkey, and then the Aazaz hostages will head to Istanbul.           

In turn, Prime Minister-Designate Tammam Salam expressed relief concerning the solution reached in the issue of the Lebanese hostages in Aazaz who were released in Friday night heading to Istanbul, hailing the efforts exerted by Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim in order to close his case.           

For his part, Speaker Nabih Berri expressed gratitude to Qatar for its contribution in the case of Aazaz hostages, to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who conducted the necessary contacts in this issue, and to Turkey for the efforts it deployed in order to release the hostages.


LBCI/REUTERS