Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria transported to Turkey

Kidnappers freed the group of Shiite pilgrims from Lebanon, captured near the Syrian city of Aleppo and handed them over to Turkish authorities on Friday, RIA-Novosti reports with reference to Reuters.

As reported on Tuesday night by the Lebanese media, the rebels of the Free Syrian army captured at least 13 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims as soon as they crossed the Turkish-Syrian border near the city of Aleppo. The pilgrims were returning from Iran to Lebanon, where they had been visiting holy places. The report of the detention of Lebanese pilgrims in Syria led to mass unrest in the Shiite neighborhoods of Beirut. Thousands of people took to the streets, blocking vehicular traffic.

For more than a year anti-governmental protests have been ongoing in Syria. According to the UN, the total number of victims is more than 9000 people and about 230,000 people left the country since the escalation of the conflict, about a million people are in need of humanitarian aid.