Two pilots working for Turkish Airlines were kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon, while en route from the airport to a hotel on Friday. Apparently the kidnapping was done as retribution for a group of Lebanese Shiites that had been kidnapped by Syrian rebels in 2012, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
A group called Imam al-Ridha Visitors, a previously unheard of organization, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in a statement. In the statement the group said that the pilots would be released once nine Lebanese Shiites who were kidnapped near the border of Syria and Turkey are returned home, according to the New York Times.
The Turkish government is allied with the Sunni Muslim factions that have been fighting against the government of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.
Families of the kidnapped Lebanese have protested at the offices of Turkish Airlines accusing the Turkish government of not exerting enough influence on the kidnappers in the past. Sheik Abbas Zugheib told the New York Times that the families were not involved in the kidnapping although "If we were notified we would have encouraged it without an equivocation."
The kidnappers stormed on to a minibus caring Turkish Airline employees to a hotel around 3 a.m. Murat Akpinar and Murat Agca were taken from the vehicle at gunpoint while the rest of their crew were left behind, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Turkish Airlines issued a statement that they were concerned about the wellbeing of their employees and that as a civilian airline they have no political loyalties, reports the New York Times.
"As a global airline that flies to 237 destinations we bring citizens of the world together from all religions, ethnicities and countries without discrimination," the statement said.
Najib Mikati, former Prime Minister of Lebanon, issued a statement condoning the kidnapping. Lebanese authorities have been in contact with the Turkish government in order to secure a safe rescue for the pilots, according to the New York Times.
