REPORT: Relatives of Lebanese hostages in Aazaz continue their sit-ins

Relatives of Lebanese hostages in Syria's Aazaz staged on Thursday a sit-in outside the Turkish Airlines office in Down Town Beirut.

In this context, a delegation of the relatives headed towards the Ministry of Energy to demand the boycott of caretaker Minister of Energy Gebran Bassil of any Turkish company willing to explore gas in Lebanon.

In addition, they expressed their optimism in regard to the efforts deployed by General Security Chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim to release the hostages.

General Security Chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim said last Friday that “positive steps have been made" in the case of the Lebanese hostages in Syria's Aazaz, adding that the issue is on “the right track.”

On Monday, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel received from the kidnappers the names of 371 Syrian women detained in Syrian prisons as part of negotiations over a swap deal.

The kidnapped men appeared in a videotape over the weekend as their families threatened Turks in Lebanon should Turkey fail to secure the release of their loved ones.

They said the video dated to April 30.

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.

Over the past month they also held a major demonstrations in Martyrs Square before the Turkish Airline Offices whereby they announced that they would be calling for the boycott of all Turkish products in Lebanon since "Lebanon imports a billion dollars worth of products from Ankara on a yearly basis."


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