“Two Turkish Airlines pilots have been kidnapped in Beirut, in an ambush that Lebanese officials believe is linked to the capture of nine Lebanese Shia pilgrims in northern Syria 15 months ago. In response, Ankara called on its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid travelling there, and launched an urgent round of contacts with Lebanese leaders who said they had no immediate leads as to who was responsible. The pilot, Murat Akpinar. and co-pilot, Murat Agca, were seized by six gunmen at 3.30am on Friday, less than one mile from Rariq Hariri airport in Beirut’s southern suburbs. They had been travelling to a hotel in the city in an airline-owned van after flying from Istanbul …………….”

“Syrian rebels have pushed deep into the coastal Alawite stronghold for the first time, seizing a string of villages in a campaign which, locals have warned, threatens to open the area up to full-blown sectarian war. “We are still finding people who were killed in their homes, and bodies left in bushes,” said Sheikh Mohammed Reda Hatem, an Alawite religious leader in Latakia. “Until now 150 Alawites from the villages have been kidnapped. There are women and children among them. We have lost all contact with them.”……………..”

Lebanese Shi’as. Iranian Shi’as, Christians, Alawites, 2 bishops, 2 other priests, many others. An Italian Jesuit priest activist Paolo Dall’Oglio was kidnapped this past week by his rebel hosts in Al Riqa region.
It is very likely some of the Lebanese clans who have had their members kidnapped by Syrian rebel groups along the Turkish border are using the kidnapped Turkish pilots as bargaining chips.
Suddenly kidnappers are doing a brisk business in Lebanon and Syria, but probably not enough to offset the crashing tourist industry..
Cheers
mhg