Two released hostages in Syria overheard captor's blaming rebels for chemical attacks

An Italian journalist and a Belgian writer who were held hostage in Syria for five months have claimed that they overheard a conversation suggesting that rebel forces were behind a chemical weapon attack on Damascus and not President Assad's army.

Domenico Quirico and Pierre Piccinin de Prata were kidnapped while working in the war torn country in April. The pair were released on Sunday night and have now said that they heard a conversation between their captors in English on Skype in which they allegedly revealed that rebels launched the attack to prompt Western forces to intervene.

Quirico, a veteran reporter for La Stampa daily with vast experience of reporting on conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, told the newspaper: 'In this conversation, they said that the gas attack on two neighborhoods of Damascus was launched by the rebels as a provocation to lead the West to intervene militarily. Read more >>