Syrian rebels free 48 Iranian hostages

ISTANBUL: Syrian rebels freed 48 Iranian hostages yesterday in exchange for the release of more than 2 000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government, the head of a Turkish aid agency which helped broker the deal, said.

The Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in early 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, one of Assad’s closest allies, denied this, saying they were Shia Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.

“The 48 Iranians have been released and are being taken to Damascus, accompanied by Iranian and Syrian officials,” Bulent Yildirim, head of humanitarian aid agency IHH, said.

He said the release of 2 130 civilian prisoners, most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens, had begun in return. Two Iranian television channels reported that 48 Iranians had been freed in a swop. There was no confirmation from the Syrian government, which has periodically freed prisoners over the 21month-old conflict in apparent concessions. But Damascus always stressed such prisoners “do not have blood on their hands”. – Reuters