Turk, Lebanese hostages free after Syrian war deal
Source: AP-Excite
By DIAA HADID and BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) - Nine Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria and two Turkish pilots held hostage in Lebanon returned home Saturday night, part of an ambitious three-way deal cutting across the Syrian civil war.
Thousands of well-wishers greeted the Shiite pilgrims in Beirut, with one man being carried out of the airport on the shoulders of a crowd. Meanwhile, a plane carrying the two freed Turkish Airlines pilots landed in Istanbul, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials greeted them.
Their planes departed just minutes apart, crisscrossing in the skies as part of the carefully-calibrated plan. The hostage release ends an ordeal that began a year and a half ago when Syrian rebels kidnapped the pilgrims, triggering tit-for-tat kidnappings that included the two Turkish pilots.
The deal, negotiated by Qatar and Palestinian officials, also was meant to include freeing dozens of women held in Syrian government jails to satisfy the rebels who abducted the pilgrims. However, it wasn't immediately clear Saturday night whether any of the women had been freed. The Syrian government and its official SANA news agency did not mention any such release.
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One of the nine released Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were kidnapped by a rebel faction in northern Syria in May 2012, reacts upon his arrival at Rafik Hariri international airport, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Two Turkish pilots held hostage in Lebanon and nine Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria returned home Saturday night, part of an ambitious three-way deal cutting across the Syrian civil war.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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