President Michel Suleiman thanked on Monday Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, for Doha's role in the release in Syria of more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns.

A Baabda Palace statement said that during phone conversations, Suleiman also thanked the Syrian government and other parties involved in the release of the nuns in exchange for Syrian authorities setting free dozens of female prisoners. The release of the nuns and their helpers, 16 women in all, is a rare successful prisoner exchange deal between Syrian government authorities and the rebels seeking to overthrow the rule of President Bashar Assad.

Syrian rebels, including members of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, seized them from the Mar Takla convent when fighters overran the Christian village of Maalula, north of Damascus, in December. The presidential statement said Suleiman rejected kidnappings under any excuse and stressed during meetings with army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous the importance of following up the cases of two bishops and a journalist kidnapped in Syria. Bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi were kidnapped in April 2013 in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo while they were on a humanitarian work. [Link]