Introduction to the evening news 07-08-2012

Ammar al-Dadikhi or “Abu Ibrahim” is no longer just a voice on the phone. He now has a face and voice, which echos loud and clear the stances he  makes through videos. In those videos, he depicts himself as the self proclaimed ruler of the region of Aazaz which early on slipped from the grasp of the regimes fist.

No one knows what was going through his mind last night when he invited journalists and artists to visit him. LBCI could not bear to decline such an invitation, in its quest for news on the Lebanese abductees or “guests”, as Abu Ibrahim calls them.  For this purpose, our colleague Tania Mhanna headed to the Turkish-Syrian border where she crossed into Aazaz; Tania was later followed by colleague Nada Andraos Aziz who was accompanied by Hussain Ibrahim, the brother of kidnapped Awad Ibrahim, and Adham Zughaib, the son of kidnapped Ali Zughaib in hopes of seeing their long-awaited loved ones.      

As for the abductees’ family members in Lebanon, they were alarmed when they heard Abu Ibrahim saying that there were no “serious negotiations” with the abductors. Consequently, they escalated their movement by cutting off the airport road and holding a sit-in outside the Turkish embassy. They also warned that the Qatari embassy will follow.   

They even warned concerned parties that Lebanon is in turn a “hospitable country that can hold guests.”        

The relatives’ patience is running out and the abductor’s frequent appearances suggest that he is in a hurry for something. Will this tragic story end soon? Or will it become more complex? All we can do now is wait for  Abu Ibrahim. 


For the full LBCI news introduction, please watch the video above