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Complex deal frees kidnapped Qatari royals, two Saudis

Various versions of a recent hostage deal are circulating that include, potentially, political motivations, millions of dollars in ransom, exchanged military prisoners and relocated civilians.
A member of the  Islamist Syrian opposition group Ahrar al-Sham fires against a position of the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG), a militia set up to protect Kurdish areas in Syria from opposing forces, during clashes in the countryside of the northern Syrian Raqqa province on August 25, 2013. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on August 27 the UN mission investigating alleged chemical weapons attacks in Damascus has been delayed until the following after rebels failed to gu
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BAGHDAD — The 26 members of a kidnapped hunting party that included numerous members of the Qatari royal family and two Saudi nationals have been released after being held for 16 months in Iraq, but questions remain about how that release was negotiated.

While the details of the deal haven't been revealed, the entire case raises serious concern among Iraqis that their government might be losing more control over its territory, as it appears regional deals are being concluded involving Iraqi territory under the auspices of other countries, without the government’s full supervision.

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