2011 Estonian cyclists abduction
Lebanon (shown in red)
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| Date | March 23, 2011 – July 14, 2011 |
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| Location | Zahlé District, Lebanon |
| Participants | Harakat al-Nahda wal-Islah ("The Movement for Renewal and Reform") |
| Outcome | Cyclists released |
 "Copies posted on a local website [show] the IDs of three of the Estonians"—The Daily Star, 20 May 2011. |
!["Copies posted on a local website [show] the IDs of three of the Estonians"](http://www.dailystar.com.lb/dailystar/Pictures/2011/05/20/0a26ec4f-2835-4ccf-96df-be8b2dbbc31c_main.jpg){kind=link}
 "Kidnapped Estonians plead for help again in a new video"—The Daily Star, 20 May 2011. (Shockwave Flash format) |
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Estonian cyclists wave to journalists from the balcony of the French Embassy in Beirut—The Daily Star
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Freed Estonian cyclists return home—Xinhua News
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Estonian cyclists reunited with their loved ones—Xinhua News
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The 2011 Estonian cyclists abduction was a kidnapping case involving seven Estonian cyclists who were abducted shortly after crossing into Lebanon from Syria on 23 March 2011. Their abductors are believed to have been a gang of Lebanese and Syrian nationals headed by fugitive Darwish Khanjar, who transferred the cyclists to a second gang, Harakat al-Nahda wal-Islah ("The Movement for Renewal and Reform"), led by Wael Abbas.
All seven cyclists were released in Lebanon on 14 July 2011, after 113 days in captivity. They were flown back to Estonia early the following morning. Wael Abbas was arrested by Syrian security forces in November.
On 2 February 2013, the Lebanese army was the victim of an armed ambush in the northeastern town of Arsal, during which three officers were killed as it was seeking to arrest Khaled Homayed, who is believed to have been behind the kidnapping. Homayed has been active in the Free Syrian Army since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War.
On Tuesday, 15 March 2011, a group of seven Estonian cyclists landed in Beirut, Lebanon, whence they cycled north into Syria. Six days later, on Wednesday, 23 March 2011, they crossed back into Lebanon via the Masnaa Border Crossing. Shortly thereafter they were abducted by armed men near the city of Zahlé, east of Beirut. The kidnappers were reported to be masked and to be driving two white vans and a black Mercedes with the license plates removed.
One of the cyclists, Martin Metspalu, is a dentist; another, Andre Pukk, a cycling enthusiast; and a third, Jaan Jagomägi, a software engineer with Estonian geopositioning software company Regio. The remaining four were identified by Estonian officials as Madis Paluoja, August Tillo, Priit Raistik, and Kalev Käosaar.
Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Urmas Paet established an Intra-Institutional Crisis Committee on 23 March in order to coordinate Estonia's activities in relation to the incident and provide regular updates to President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. On 24 March the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened a press conference where it was publicly confirmed that seven Estonian citizens who had been cycling in Syria were kidnapped the previous afternoon after having crossed into Lebanon. Foreign Affairs Minister Paet told reporters that Estonia would be dispatching a special diplomat to work with local authorities in Lebanon.
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Wikipedia