2 Germans Reportedly Free in Beirut : Hostages: Relief workers were the last Westerners held. But their whereabouts remain a mystery.

Two German relief workers, the last Western hostages held in Lebanon, were freed Monday night, the Iranian news agency and a Lebanese police source said.

But sources at the German Foreign Ministry in Bonn said they had no confirmation that Heinrich Struebig and Thomas Kemptner had been freed.

The Beirut bureau of Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the pair were turned over to Lebanese security authorities after three years in captivity.

A senior Lebanese officer, however, said the pro-Iranian kidnapers delivered the Germans to Syrian officers in Lebanon. Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon.

Struebig and Kemptner were to be delivered to German and U.N. officials at noon today at the residence of Lebanese President Elias Hrawi, the police source said. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bernd Schmidbauer, personal envoy of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, said he will fly to Beirut today.

Struebig, 51, and Kemptner, 31, were both aid workers for the ASME-Humanitas relief group when they were kidnaped in 1989.

Unlike most Westerners who were abducted for political reasons, the Germans were kidnaped in hopes of winning the release of two Lebanese brothers jailed in Germany. Mohammed Ali Hamadi is serving a life sentence for hijacking a TWA airliner in 1985 and killing a U.S. passenger. Abbas Hamadi was sentenced to 13 years for kidnaping two German businessmen in an attempt to win his brother’s release.

However, Germany refused to free the Hamadis.

At least 92 foreigners were abducted in Lebanon between 1984 and 1991. Most were freed or said they escaped, but eight died or were killed in captivity, and three others are believed to be dead.

The longest-held hostage was Associated Press correspondent Terry A. Anderson, who was released in December after spending more than 6 1/2 years in captivity.

The Holy Warriors for Freedom, the Shiite Muslim group that claimed responsibility for kidnaping the Germans, said Monday that the two would be freed within 48 hours at Hrawi’s residence.

The group said the decision to release the two men came in response to international efforts and to mediation by Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

“As we release the last spies and positively close this chapter, we warn against a repetition of past experiences. We have started the countdown for the completion of the happiness for all. Otherwise, no one will enjoy happiness if our brothers are not released,” the handwritten statement said.

Diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report in the Beirut newspaper As Safir that the Germans were being freed in return for assurances that prison conditions would be improved for the Hamadi brothers.

In Washington, President Bush said the release of the last Westerners held in Lebanon “would remove an enormous impediment to better relations with Iran.”

“We still have some other problems with Iran, as you know. But I will be watching this very carefully,” he said on CNN.