* Joyful homecoming for 2 Lebanese hostages in Iraq
* Two hostages survive Zarqawi’s lair and US attack in Iraq
* Two Lebanese Hostages Freed in Iraq – Lawyer
* U.S. attack credited for Iraq hostages’ release
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The Daily Star, Lebanon
Oct 15 2004
Joyful homecoming for 2 Lebanese hostages in Iraq
Relieved families rejoice at saga’s end: “For the past month we lived
in horror”
By Majdoline Hatoum
BEIRUT: Charbel Hajj and Aram Nalbandian, the two Lebanese kidnapped
in Iraq last month and freed Wednesday, returned to Beirut safely
Thursday, where their families welcomed them with tears of joy.
Hajj was rushed to the hospital following his arrival to continue
treatment of his injuries, sustained during the shelling of the
building he was held captive in.
“The most important thing is that he is alive,” said Rola Hajj, his
sister. “His injury is not dangerous,” she explained. “He will
hopefully recover soon, and among us,” she added.
Rola, very excited to have her brother back safe and sound, said that
the past month had been a nightmare for the family.
“For the past month we lived in horror, fearing that the kidnappers
might snap and murder him,” she said. “It is the hardest experience
any one might encounter,” she added.
“We are just thankful it’s over,” she added. “It was a very stressful
month for us.”
The two men’s month in captivity ended after the building they were
held captive in was hit during an American raid on Fallujah.
The two men were supposed to be released last Sunday, after their
company reportedly paid their kidnappers a ransom for their release.
But the release was delayed because of road closures around Fallujah
due to fighting between insurgents and coalition troops.
Hajj and Nalbandian’s kidnappers all died during Wednesday’s raid on
the building. The two men were then rescued and safely transported to
the offices of the company they had worked with in Baghdad.
“We were able to rescue them from under the ruins of the building and
get them safely to Baghdad,” said Hassan Hijazi, the Lebanese charges
d’affairs in Iraq.
Two more Lebanese nationals remain in captivity in Iraq, without
clear information as to whom is behind their abduction.
“Marwan Qassar and Moh-ammed Hussein are still held captive,” said
Hijazi, who would not provide further details to protect the two
men’s safety.
“All I can say is that efforts are being made to secure their
release,” he said.
Since the outbreak of violence in Iraq following the fall of Saddam
Hussein’s regime, 25 Lebanese citizens have been kidnapped. Four of
them were murdered, and the rest released.
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Agence France Presse
Oct 15 2004
Two hostages survive Zarqawi’s lair and US attack in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Oct 14 (AFP) – Charbel and Aram were lucky, extremely lucky.
Held hostage for 27 days by Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi’s men, who have
slit throats and hacked the heads off other captives, they emerged
alive from Fallujah — but only just.
Last Tuesday, the day their captors had promised to free them, US
warplanes struck. Aram Nalbandian, aged 47, and 31-year-old Charbel
Karam al-Hajj, spent two hours under the debris of the demolished
building.
The first had his leg broken; the second his pelvis.
The US military said it had targeted Zarqawi’s militants who it
believed were planning “suicide attacks and kidnappings”.
According to the two Lebanese, five fighters were killed in the
attack. The group never discloses its losses and buries its “martyrs”
immediately, by-passing hospital morgues.
Both men were freed on Wednesday after being treated briefly in
hospital in Fallujah, the Sunni insurgent bastion some 50 kilometres
(31 miles) west of Baghdad.
Visibly still tired and wearing the dirty clothes they had on at the
time of the air raid, they said they were thinking of their companion
in misfortune, their Iraqi driver Ahmed Mirza, who was wounded and
was left behind in hospital.
“We were heading towards Fallujah on September 17 when we were
stopped at a makeshift roadblock manned by the insurgents,” said
Charbel, his black beard covering much of his emaciated face.
Several hours later, the boss of the Lebanese company for which they
worked, Si-Si, was aware of their plight.
“I tried tried to call Aram. An Iraqi replied. I knew they had been
kidnapped,” recounted Fadi Munir Yassin.
Those first days, the two men spent in a cold sweat. Tawhid wal Jihad
(Unity and Holy War) is not reputed for mercy.
“They questioned us during each of the first five days before
transferring us to a second house,” said Charbel, still wearing the
baggy trousers, characteristic of the Wahhabis or Sunni
fundamentalists, given him by the kidnappers.
Father-of-three Aram, smoking one cigarette after another, recalled
fearfully: “They wanted to know who we worked for and if we were
collaborating with the Americans.”
The pair spoke of a “war of nerves”, of long hours without sleep.
They began to mention “abuse” but then checked themselves, still
fearing the anger of their kidnappers.
Most of the time, they were blindfolded, their eyes covered with a
strip of fabric held in place by a metal wire.
“We kept track of the time thanks to the call to prayer” from the
mosques, said Aram, adding that when they were told they could remove
their blindfolds, they found themselves confronted by masked captors.
Asked about non-Iraqi Arabs among the kidnappers, they refused to
speak and repeated they had been well treated. Both maintained they
were able to shower every day and eat sufficiently. They also said
they had mattresses, pillows and a fan.
“Before we were due to be released, they (kidnappers) asked us what
we wanted to eat, to give us a farewell meal,” said Aram.
Both men appeared to be trying to exorcise their fear in painting a
picture rosier than reality. But their words sometimes betrayed them.
“The hardest thing was not knowing when we would come out,” murmured
Aram. And then there was the voices of other hostages. “In the final
days there was an Egyptian,” said Charbel, speaking also of Iraqis
being punished for immorality or theft.
Religious fervour permeated the group. “These young fighters ask only
to die as martyrs,” said Aram. “They expect the (town) residents also
to observe strict Islam. Tawhid wal Jihad makes the law in Fallujah.”
Aram smiles, drew on his cigarette, and ended: “We went into the
lion’s den.”
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Reuters
Oct 15 2004
Two Lebanese Hostages Freed in Iraq – Lawyer
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iraqi kidnappers have freed two Lebanese men who
were taken hostage west of Baghdad last month, their company’s lawyer
said on Wednesday.
Lawyer Yasir Ali Ahmad said the head of their company in Baghdad had
called him to say Charbil Karam al-Hajj and Aram Nalbandian were safe
in the company’s offices in the Iraqi capital.
The two men disappeared on a road near Falluja on about Sept. 18,
along with their Iraqi driver, Ahmad Mirza. There was no news on the
fate of the Iraqi driver.
“I just spoke to Fadi Yasin, the head of the company, and he said the
two were with him in the Baghdad office, he said they were in good
health,” Ahmad told Reuters in Beirut.
It was not clear if the kidnappers, who had promised to free the men
on Sunday, had made any demands to secure the release of their
captives.
Ahmad said the two Lebanese were working for a company called Sisi,
which arranges charter flights in and out of Iraq.
Militants have seized scores of foreign hostages in Iraq since last
April, including several Lebanese. Most have been freed, but some,
including one Lebanese, have been killed.
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MSNBC
Oct 15 2004
U.S. attack credited for Iraq hostages’ release
Captors killed; 2 Lebanese injured, but returning home
The Associated Press
Beirut, Lebanon – Two former Lebanese hostages returned home from
Iraq on Thursday, and their employer credited a U.S. bombing that
wounded both men and killed their Iraqi driver and the kidnappers for
letting them escape.
Charbel Karam Haj and Aram Nalbandian, who work for a travel agency,
were kidnapped Sept. 18 along with their driver, Ahmed Mirza, as they
drove on a highway between Baghdad and Fallujah, a hotbed of
insurgency 40 miles to the west.
The kidnappers and Mirza were killed Wednesday when U.S. forces
bombed the building in Fallujah where the three were being held, Fadi
Yassin, the travel agency’s owner, said at Beirut’s airport after
flying back from Baghdad with Haj and Nalbandian.
“Haj and Nalbandian were removed from under the rubble by some
Fallujah mujahedeen (holy warriors),” Yassin said.
‘Expecting death every minute’
He said Haj suffered a fractured hip and Nalbandian had a broken
ankle. They were taken to the American University Hospital.
Nalbandian said he and Haj did not expect to make it out alive. “We
were expecting death every minute,” he said.
Haj, who said he was in tremendous pain, refused to speak with
journalists.
Nalbandian said the men were treated poorly shortly after the
kidnapping, “but things improved later.” He said the captors told
them that British hostage Kenneth Bigley was being held captive in
the same building, but they never saw him.
Bigley and two American hostages were beheaded; the Tawhid and Jihad
group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
Yassin was kidnapped along with his employees, but he was quietly
released a few days later for reasons that remain unclear. He then
began to negotiate with an intermediary he identified as Fallujah
tribal leader Sheik Abu Abdullah. According to Yassin, the two sides
agreed on a ransom of $100,000 for the men’s release, which he handed
over on Wednesday.
Timely attack
But as the followers of Sheik Abu Abdullah went to pick up the men,
“the building where they were held captive came under heavy shelling
by U.S. forces, which resulted in the killing of the kidnappers and
driver Mirza.”
He said the intermediaries returned the ransom money to him, and he
showed the cash to journalists at the airport. Yassin said he did not
know which group kidnapped the men, but the Lebanese Broadcasting
Corp. reported Thursday that they were held by Tawhid and Jihad.
Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 150 foreigners in their
campaign to drive out coalition forces and hamper reconstruction
efforts. Most have been kidnapped for ransom and freed unharmed, but
at least 30 have been killed.
There are believed to be three Lebanese hostages held in Iraq; all
others have been released unharmed except Hussein Ali Alyan, a
26-year-old construction worker whose body was found June 12.
Hundreds of Lebanese, mainly construction workers and industrialists,
went to Iraq looking for opportunities in the massive postwar
reconstruction.
Video shows new beheading
Video that appeared on an Islamic Web site Thursday showed militants
in Iraq beheading a man identified as a kidnapped Turkish driver.
He was the sixth Turk and the 30th foreign hostage slain by militants
who oppose the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Most of the victims have
worked for or alongside coalition interests in the country.
The video appeared on the Web site of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, an
Iraqi militant group. A statement read in the video said the
kidnappers belonged to the group’s “Qaqa Brigade,” a reference to a
commander who served Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The Arabic-language Web site said the driver’s name was Ramazan Elbu.
In a brief statement, the driver gave only his first name — Ramazan —
and held up what appeared to be Turkish identity documents.
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