Two women from Belarus and Moldova captured by Syrian rebels last month reportedly have escaped and are currently in "a safe place in Lebanon."
In August, a video circulated on the Internet showing two young women surrounded by armed and masked men.
One of the women said she was Corina Coltsa from Moldova. The other called herself Svyatlana Markiyanovich from Belarus.
The women said in the video that they were agents of Lebanon's Shi'ite movement Hizballah and came to Syria posing as journalists to collect information about the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Markiyanovich's aunt, Iryna Kanstantsinauna, told RFE/RL on September 17 that her niece told her by phone earlier the same day that they had managed to escape from captivity with the help of a local mosque and were moved to Lebanon from Syria about a week ago.
In August, a video circulated on the Internet showing two young women surrounded by armed and masked men.
One of the women said she was Corina Coltsa from Moldova. The other called herself Svyatlana Markiyanovich from Belarus.
The women said in the video that they were agents of Lebanon's Shi'ite movement Hizballah and came to Syria posing as journalists to collect information about the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Markiyanovich's aunt, Iryna Kanstantsinauna, told RFE/RL on September 17 that her niece told her by phone earlier the same day that they had managed to escape from captivity with the help of a local mosque and were moved to Lebanon from Syria about a week ago.