Gunmen seize Turkish pilots in Lebanon
10 Aug 2013 11:33 PM GMT
Gunmen ambushed a van on Friday carrying a Turkish Airlines crew in the Lebanese capital, kidnapping a pilot and a co-pilot in an attack that appeared linked to the ongoing civil war in neighboring Syria.
Six gunmen stopped the vehicle on an old airport road in Beirut, abducting the two Turkish nationals and letting the rest of the crew go, officials said.
The van was travelling between Rafik Hariri International Airport and a Beirut hotel when the ambush took place, said the Lebanese officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Lebanon’s state news agency said a group called the Zuwaar al-Imam Rida claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
The group, which was previously unknown, said in a statement carried by National News Agency that the pilots ‘will only be released when the Lebanese hostages in Syria return.’
The civil war in neighboring Syria has deeply divided the Lebanese.
The Syrian rebels, who are backed by Turkey, have been holding nine Lebanese Shias hostage since last year.
There have been other kidnappings on both sides since the war began.
A representative for the Lebanese hostages’ families said that there was ‘no relationship between the kidnapping of Turkish pilots and case of Lebanese hostages in Syria,’ the NNA reported.
However, Sheik Abbas Zougheib of the Higher Shia Councils said if the abduction ‘is to settle the question of Lebanese abducted in Syria, we support it,’ according to the news service’s latest reports.
Six gunmen stopped the vehicle on an old airport road in Beirut, abducting the two Turkish nationals and letting the rest of the crew go, officials said.
The van was travelling between Rafik Hariri International Airport and a Beirut hotel when the ambush took place, said the Lebanese officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Lebanon’s state news agency said a group called the Zuwaar al-Imam Rida claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
The group, which was previously unknown, said in a statement carried by National News Agency that the pilots ‘will only be released when the Lebanese hostages in Syria return.’
The civil war in neighboring Syria has deeply divided the Lebanese.
The Syrian rebels, who are backed by Turkey, have been holding nine Lebanese Shias hostage since last year.
There have been other kidnappings on both sides since the war began.
A representative for the Lebanese hostages’ families said that there was ‘no relationship between the kidnapping of Turkish pilots and case of Lebanese hostages in Syria,’ the NNA reported.
However, Sheik Abbas Zougheib of the Higher Shia Councils said if the abduction ‘is to settle the question of Lebanese abducted in Syria, we support it,’ according to the news service’s latest reports.
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