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Obscure Group Nabs Syrian Dissidents in Lebanon to Swap for 11 Pilgrims
[An Nahar] A previously unheard of group calling itself "The Brigade of al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi" has grabbed credit for kidnapping Syrian opposition members in Leb with the aim of swapping them for 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria on May 22, al-Mayadeen television reported on Monday.

The Beirut-based, pan-Arab TV network did not mention how many Syrian activists were nabbed or the Lebanese area they were allegedly kidnapped from.

A Syrian rebel commander on Sunday said that the 11 Lebanese men were in "good health" but stressed that they will only be released "after the ouster" of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
.

Al-Jazeera
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS...
television aired Tuesday a video it said it received from the abductors of the 11 pilgrims.

"In response to the appeal of the Mohammedan Scholars Committee in Leb, we will hand over two of the guests in our custody to their families under the supervision of the Mohammedan Scholars Committee in Leb and the state of Qatar," the abductors said in what they dubbed "Statement Number 3."

"We have informed the Turkish government in order to confirm our good intentions," the statement broadcast by Al-Jazeera added.

But the abductors rejected to "forget what was voiced in the first statement: the demand of an apology from (Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah who was justifying for (Syrian President Bashar) Assad his deeds while the honor of our women was being violated in Homs and who claimed that what's happening in Syria is nothing but media fabrications."

"We do not have a problem with any sect and we are rather struggling for the freedom and dignity of our people," the presumed kidnappers added in their statement.

The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran when gunnies intercepted their buses in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
.

The rebel Free Syrian Army has denied any involvement in the operation.

In a previous video, the kidnapped pilgrims said they were "the guests of the Syrian revolutionaries," expressing support for "their revolution against oppressors."

Also on Tuesday, President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
held talks with Turkish leaders about the fate of the 11 pilgrims.

"We told the Lebanese side that we will do our best to find the kidnapped pilgrims but our opportunities are also restricted," a diplomatic source told Agence La Belle France Presse after Suleiman's meeting with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ahead of his trip to Turkey, Suleiman told news hounds that "there are some good signs" about the case of the 11 pilgrims.

"I am exerting all efforts and holding contacts and routine meetings to secure their release," he added.

Their abduction is not a democratic act and does not serve any cause, the president said.

Posted by: Fred 2012-07-24
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=348992