Eight Lebanese truck drivers kidnapped by the Nusra Front on the Syria-Jordan border earlier this month returned home Monday, but one driver remains unaccounted for.
The released drivers arrived in Beirut from Amman, to where they fled after being freed from the Nasib in southern Syria Sunday.
Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, who was tasked with following up on the matter, welcomed the truckers upon arrival at the airport.
He thanked Jordanian authorities for ensuring the safe entry of the truckers into the country, adding that negotiations were ongoing to ensure the release of the ninth driver, Hasan Atat.
“We hope for the safe return of Atat soon so that the joy is completed in our country,” Chehayeb told reporters at the airport.
One of the drivers, Abdel-Rahman Ahmad Houri, explained to the media that the Nusra Front was behind their abduction.
“We had arrived at the crossing when the war began,” he said in reference to the battle for the crossing between Syrian Army and rebels.
“The Jordanians had closed the borders, so we were stuck there and the rebels took over the crossing.”
He said several groups, including unidentifiable factions, entered the crossing after battle, including the Nusra Front which abducted the nine drivers.
After being held and interrogated for around a week in an underground location, the Dar al-Adel (Justice House) court run by the Nusra Front ordered their release, he explained.
After that, they remained under “the protection of the Free Syrian Army,” he added.
Chehayeb thanked the FSA for ensuring the drivers’ safety, and underlined that no ransoms were paid in return for the drivers’ release.
As for the trucks, they were left at the Nasib crossing because they could not be passed into Jordan, the driver said, highlighting that all trucks were looted and most were severely damaged.
“The more difficult file remains that of the truck drivers stuck in Jordan and Saudi Arabia,” Chehayeb said. A total of 231 drivers were stranded in the two countries after the closing of the Nasib crossing.
Sixty truck drivers were stuck at the Jordan’s Jaber crossing, which is opposite the Nasib crossing.
As for the 171 truckers in Saudi Arabia, Chehayeb said Riyadh was being cooperative with Lebanon.
Chehayeb had announced that Lebanese nationals living in Saudi Arabia have pledged to help donate 400 riyals daily to help cover the cost of fellow countrymen while they remain stranded abroad.
The Nasib crossing, a vital path for Lebanon’s exports to Jordan and the Gulf, was taken over by Syrian rebels on April 1, one day after Jordan had closed the road on its side of the border and evacuated all civilians from the area.
Around 30 Lebanese drivers were stuck at the crossing, but the majority have returned by car through Syria despite the risky security situation.
