Al Jazeera, 9 Jan, 2013 – Rebels free 48 Iranians seized in August, in exchange for more than 2,000 prisoners held by Syrian government.
These women are among the prisoners being freed in exchange for the 48 Iranian hostages.
Syrian rebel groups have freed 48 Iranians captured last year in exchange for prisoners held by Syrian security services, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.
The report did not specify the number of prisoners freed by the government, but said the group included Turks.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish humanitarian aid agency IHH said that the Syrian government would free 2,130 prisoners in exchange for the Iranians.
Bulent Yildirim, the head of IHH, was in Damascus to help negotiate the deal.
“This is the result of months of civil diplomacy carried out by our organisation,” a spokesman for IHH, Serkan Nergis, told the AFP news agency.
A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, Ahmed al-Khatib, confirmed the deal, and said it was worked out through negotiation by Turkey and Qatar.
The Iranians were captured in Damascus in August by rebel groups, who said the prisoners were members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Rebels released a video showing Iranian military identification cards, allegedly taken from the captives.
Tehran denied this, saying they were pilgrims visiting a Shia shrine in Syria.
The hostages had been a major bargaining chip for the opposition; Iran is one of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s closest allies.
This is the first major prisoner swap since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.