BEIRUT — Gunmen abducted two Turkish Airlines pilots in the Lebanese capital on Friday, Turkish and Lebanese officials said, in an apparent escalation in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings linked to the war in Syria.
The brazen kidnapping, on the main highway from Beirut's Rafiq al-Hariri International Airport, is the latest in a string of security breakdowns triggered by Syria's civil war.
The kidnappers, who forced the pilots out of their minibus at gunpoint, demanded the release of nine Lebanese hostages held in Syria in exchange for the men, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported.
Turkey's support of the Syrian rebels has proved controversial in Lebanon, where the country is deeply divided by the conflict.
Families of the nine Shi'ite Lebanese pilgrims who remain captive after being kidnapped by rebels in the Syrian province of Aleppo in May last year have staged protests outside the Turkish Airlines office in Beirut and its embassy.
Speaking to Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper, Daniel Shoab, a spokesman for the families of the pilgrims, denied that they were directly involved in Friday's abductions.
A little-known group calling itself Zuwar Imam al-Rida released a statement claiming responsibility.
It said the men would not be released until the Shi'ite pilgrims are freed.
The men were kidnapped at around 3 a.m., according to the Lebanese Interior Ministry. They had flown in on a flight from Istanbul, which was scheduled to land at 2:45 a.m. Eight armed men in two vehicles intercepted the minibus as it headed to a hotel on Beirut's seafront.
Other crewmembers were allowed to go free, and the driver was questioned by police, the ministry said. The airline identified the pilot as Murat Aktumer and his co-pilot as Murat Agca.
It was not the first kidnapping of Turkish nationals in Lebanon.
Two were briefly held last year after the kidnapping of a member of a prominent Lebanese clan member in Syria.
At that time, threats against the citizens of Persian Gulf countries that also back the Syrian rebels prompted Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to warn their nationals against travel to Lebanon.