TRIPOLI, Lebanon, 8 August 2004 — Weeping and clutching photos of their missing loved-ones, the families of four Lebanese truck drivers kidnapped in Iraq begged yesterday for their safe release. “I plead with the Islamic Clerics Association, the tribal leaders and the Iraqis to bring a father back to the 12 children he provides for,” said Nada Sayyour, sitting in her cramped home in the northern city of Tripoli.

Her husband Qasim Murqbawi was one of four men captured on Thursday on a road between Baghdad and Ramadi, a volatile area west of Baghdad where suspicion of foreigners runs high.

Sayyour said she had heard nothing from her 50-year-old husband since he called from Baghdad on Monday. An Iraqi friend who Murqbawi usually stays with in Iraq had called to ask why he never made it, she said. The company Murqbawi was delivering fruit juice for had also called to say the goods had not arrived.

There are now at least five Lebanese nationals missing in Iraq. Lebanese businessman Antoine Antoun was kidnapped along with a Syrian driver on Friday last week, according to his relatives in northern Lebanon.

In recent months, several Lebanese have been kidnapped in Iraq and later released. Some captors demanded money. Others accused them of working too closely with US-led forces. In June, a Lebanese hostage was killed in Iraq. It was not clear who had kidnapped the four truck drivers or why.

Murqbawi had crossed into Iraq with fellow Lebanese Khaldun Osman and two brothers, Taha and Nasir Al-Jundi. Osman’s family said they could not confirm whether the father-of-five had been kidnapped.

The father of the two brothers, Mohammed Al-Jundi, 73, pleaded with Muslim clerics and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to do what they could to bring his sons home. “They went to Iraq to work despite the dangers on the roads to make a living and support their children and us,” said Jundi, adding that his sons each had two young children. “All we can do is depend on God and ask him to bring them home.”

“They’ve been going for a while now to Iraq. They usually call home as soon as they get there (Baghdad) to tell us of their safe arrival,” said Mohammed. “This time they didn’t call, and we haven’t heard anything since.”