Released pilgrim to return to Beirut Wednesday

Lebanese Shiite pilgrim Awad Ibrahim, who was kidnapped in Syria along with 10 other men, will return to Lebanon from Turkey on Wednesday evening. “Ibrahim will return to Lebanon at 8:30 p.m on Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines plane,” the National News Agency reported. The report also said that two security forces officers had traveled earlier to Turkey to accompany the released Lebanese citizen. In May, 11 Shiite pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria while on their way to Lebanon from Iran. Following the abduction, a previously unknown armed group calling itself the "Syrian Revolutionaries – Aleppo Province" said that it was holding the Shiite men, while the Free Syrian Army had repeatedly denied its involvement in the abduction. Awad is the second among the 11 abductees to be released. One of the pilgrims, Hussein Ali Omar, was released last month. Suleiman also said that the Lebanese authorities would continue their efforts and contacts to release the other nine abductees.