The families of 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria last month held talks with President Michel Sleiman at Baabda palace on Friday.

The families of 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria last month held talks with President Michel Sleiman at Baabda palace on Friday.

Sleiman voiced his “relief over the reassurance of Arab and Turkish officials regarding the efforts to release the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria and their health,” the National News Agency reported.

He also addressed the issue of the Lebanese pilgrims during a meeting with Development and Liberation bloc MP Ghazi Zeaiter, Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Ali Ammar and a delegation of the abductees’ relatives, the report added.

Last week, the rebels holding the pilgrims said they will free them when a "civil state" sees the day in Syria but also left the door open to negotiations for their release, Al-Jazeera television reported.

The abductors’ statement was accompanied by a video of the 11 men aired on the Qatar-based channel.

On June 1, al-Jazeera quoted a previously unknown armed group, the "Syrian Revolutionaries -- Aleppo Province", as saying they were holding the Lebanese pilgrims who went missing on May 22.