Sleiman meets with Patriarch Yazigi, tackles case of Aazaz hostages

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman met on Tuesday with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Youhanna Yazigi at the Baabda Presidential Palace, where they discussed the general situation in Lebanon and Syria and the developments concerning the efforts deployed in order to release the kidnapped Syrian bishops and the Aazaz hostages.       

The two Syrian bishops kidnapped by gunmen on Monday April 22nd are still missing, church sources in Damascus and Aleppo said, contradicting a report that the men had been freed.       

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

Separately, Sleiman met with caretaker Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehanoui and tackled with him the ministry’s work during the current stage.           

Earlier in the day, President Sleiman met with Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad at the Baabda Palace, and discussed the Lebanese security and political situation. 

The visit comes one day after President Sleiman urged Iran and Hezbollah to exert efforts to support investigations over Sunday's incident that killed one protester outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut.               

Men wielding batons and wearing yellow arm bands evoking Lebanon's Hezbollah attacked protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut Sunday during a rally against the group's participation in the Syrian civil war.           

One protester, identified as 28-year-old Salman Hachem was killed, a senior Lebanese military official and witnesses said.                 

The Syria conflict is increasingly spilling over into Lebanon, while Hezbollah's participation in the conflict, backing forces of Syria's President Bashar Assad in a successful campaign to drive rebels out of al-Qusayr near the Lebanese border, heightened tensions.