Arab mediation trying to free Lebanon hostages in Syria

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said on Wednesday that Lebanese Shi'ites kidnapped in northern Syria by insurgents hoping to trade the captives for detainees in Syrian government custody would be freed soon. "Our information is that, God willing, the Lebanese will be released very soon," he told Reuters. "We can't say who is conducting the negotiations, but the matter is ongoing and, God willing, we're going to reach a positive result." Mansour confirmed the party negotiating for the release of the hostages was Arab, but declined to specify further. Families of Lebanese Shi'ites abducted in northern Aleppo as they returned from visit in Iran on Tuesday blocked roads in mainly Shi'ite neighbourhoods of Beirut, demanding the release of men they said were held captive by Syrian fighters. Relatives of those being held said fighters who seized a bus carrying the visitors set free the females and elderly men, but held 13 men to demand the release of insurgents. Syria's state SANA news agency said there were 12 captives, one of them a Syrian. The Arabic-language Asharq Alawsat on Wednesday quoted Mustafa al-Sheikh, a former Syrian general exiled to Turkey who claims to have influence over fighters on the ground, as saying his Free Syrian Army was not behind the kidnapping. The abductions - which drew a call for calm from the head of Hezbollah, the Shi'ite Muslim political movement and guerrilla group.