Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in prisoner swap
Source: Agencies |
January 10, 2013, Thursday
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A GROUP of 48 Iranians freed by Syrian rebels after months in captivity have arrived at a Damascus hotel.
Officials say they were released after President Bashar Assad's regime promised to free hundreds of detainees in the first major prisoner swap of the country's civil war.
The men arrived yesterday at the Sheraton hotel in several vans escorted by Syrian security forces.
Iran's ambassador in Damascus Mohammad Riza Shibani greeted them with flowers.
The Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Islamic Republic denied this, saying they were Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.
Bulent Yildirim, head of humanitarian aid agency IHH, said the release of 2,130 civilian prisoners, most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens, had begun in return.
Officials say they were released after President Bashar Assad's regime promised to free hundreds of detainees in the first major prisoner swap of the country's civil war.
The men arrived yesterday at the Sheraton hotel in several vans escorted by Syrian security forces.
Iran's ambassador in Damascus Mohammad Riza Shibani greeted them with flowers.
The Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Islamic Republic denied this, saying they were Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.
Bulent Yildirim, head of humanitarian aid agency IHH, said the release of 2,130 civilian prisoners, most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens, had begun in return.
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