Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel described his meetings with Qatari officials during his trip to the Gulf country regarding the issue of the Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria as “productive.”
“Qatar has expressed interest in the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria and they have appointed a security officer to follow up on it alongside Lebanese General Security Director General Abbas Ibrahim,” the National News Agency quoted Charbel as saying upon his arrival to Beirut.
The interior minister also said that Ibrahim, who accompanied him on his two-day visit to Qatar, “will meet again with the Qatari security officer next week in Doha after having prepared a comprehensive file on the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria.”
Charbel and Ibrahim headed for Qatar on Tuesday to consult with Qatari officials on the issue of the Shiite pilgrims who were abducted in Syria’s Aleppo in May while returning from a pilgrimage in Iran.
Later in the month, a previously unknown armed group calling itself the "Syrian Revolutionaries—Aleppo Province" said that it was holding the group, while the Free Syrian Army had repeatedly denied its involvement in the abduction.
Two of the kidnapped pilgrims – Awad Ibrahim and Hussein Ali Omar – were later released.
