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Iranian pilgrims abducted near Shia shrine in Syria
 [BBC] Some 48 Iranian pilgrims have been kidnapped from a bus in the vicinity of a shrine near the Syrian capital Damascus,...The City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... reports say. Iranian diplomats blamed the abduction, from close to the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zainab, on "gangs". Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? later gave the same account of the incident. Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... fresh fighting has been reported around Damascus, and in the northern city 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... , where rebels are trying to secure their positions. The Iranian consul in Damascus said the whereabouts of the kidnapped pilgrims was known. Syrian state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... Sana said the Iranians had been kidnapped by "armed terrorist groups" and that Syrian authorities were "working to handle the situation". Thousands of Iranians travel each year to Syria to visit the pilgrimage site in the mostly Shia district of Sayyida Zainab, which has seen heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or desultory fighting... in recent weeks. There have been several other reports of groups of Iranian pilgrims being kidnapped in Syria in recent months, with most later being freed. Posted by: Fred 2012-08-05 |
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