Muayyed Nureddin, a Canadian citizen detained in Syria for more than a month, returned to Toronto on Thursday.

Looking haggard and nervous after arriving at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Nureddin was eager to thank those who helped secure his release.

"I would like to thank the Canadian government and the Canadian Embassy in Jordan ... for their work, who worked very, very hard to release me from Syria," he said.

"I believe without their efforts, I (would) not be out in such a short time."

Nureddin was released Wednesday, more than a month after he tried to return to Canada via Syria from a visit to his native Iraq.

When he was not heard from for three weeks after visiting relatives in Kirkuk, Iraq, his friends and family went public with concerns he was being held in a Syrian prison.

At the time, Ottawa pressed for an explanation. Although officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs met with their Syrian Embassy counterparts last week, it never came.

In his brief exchange with reporters Thursday, Nureddin deflected questions about how he was treated in Syria.

"I'm glad to be home and I'm tired," he said. "I need a few days to relax."

Nureddin's friend, Tawfik Kettanah, told reporters that he too wants answers to those questions.

"To see why he was detained, find out what the charges are, that's what we care about," Kettanah said, explaining that Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents questioned him about Nureddin's trip the week after he drove his friend to the airport for his trip to Iraq.

Nureddin, a geologist who came to Canada in 1994, was the principal of the Salaheddin Islamic School for three years before recently leaving the job.

Sources told the Toronto Star that (CSIS) had monitored both the school and Salaheddin mosque.

Nureddin is the second Canadian to be released from a Syrian jail. Maher Arar was released late last year after being detained in Damascus for 10 months. Two Ottawa men remain in Syrian jails -- Abdullah Al-malki and Arwad Al-Bouchi.

Though the reason for Nureddin's sudden release remains unknown, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Andre Lemay told The Canadian Press that consular officials had been working to secure the release as soon as they learned Nureddin was being held in Damascus.

According to Lemay, Foreign Affairs had been "specifically asked (by the family) not to release the information" on why Nureddin was detained.