Mashnouq Plays Down Jomaa's Confessions Effect on Release of Arsal Captives

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq played down on Tuesday the confessions of al-Nusra Front leader, whose arrest sparked clashes between Islamist gunmen with the Lebanese army earlier in August.

“I don't think that (Imad) Jomaa's confessions would thwart the ongoing endeavors to release the kidnapped soldiers,” Mashnouq said in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper.

He ruled out any tension among cabinet members on the matter, denying that the release of Jomaa is a condition set by the Islamist gunmen to safely release the security personnel.

“The demands circulated in media outlets are inaccurate,” Mahsnouq, who is a Mustaqbal movement official, told the newspaper.

On August 2, deadly fighting erupted in and around the northeastern border town of Arsal, leaving 19 soldiers, 16 civilians and dozens of jihadists dead. The clashes ended with a truce negotiated by Lebanese Sunni clerics, but the jihadists withdrew from the area taking captive around 34 security personnel with them.

The assault on the town aimed to “turn it into a launchpad for attacks against other Lebanese towns and against the Lebanese Army in order to create a bigger conflict zone stretching from Syria's Qalamun and the Bekaa to the (Lebanese) north,” Jomaa has reportedly confessed.

“We will exert efforts to release the hostage security personnel,” Mashnouq said, slamming the Muslim Scholars Committee for “publicly” suspending their negotiations with the armed men.

Jomaa was known to be a member of al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria franchise, but a video that surfaced in recent weeks shows him pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, which reportedly appointed him as the leader of the extremist Fajr al-Islam Brigade.

Media reports have said that Abou Talal al-Hamad assumed leadership of the Brigade in the wake of Jomaa's arrest and that he is in charge of negotiating over the abducted troops.

H.K.

M.T.