Report: Lebanese State Not Informed of Qatari Delegation Mediating Release of Arsal Captives

Controversy loomed on Sunday whether a Qatari delegation negotiating the release of abducted security forces' members was commissioned by the Lebanese government or not.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had denied a prior knowledge of the presence of a Qatari delegation in Lebanon to mediate the release of the kidnapped soldiers and policemen, who were taken hostage by Islamist gunmen while withdrawing from the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.

Mashnouq's statement comes in light of media reports saying that the Qatari delegation held indirect contacts with the Islamist gunmen to ensure the safe release of the remaining hostages.

The minister was expected to head to Doha after he has been invited to the Gulf Cooperation Council's interior ministers' meeting.

He was reportedly set to follow up the case with senior Qatari officials during his visit, but he revealed on Saturday evening that he canceled his visit due to the developments.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Sunday that the delegation left Lebanon on Saturday after gaining a pledge by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida linked Nusra Front to extend the zero-hour before starting to execute the hostages.

“None of the security forces will be harmed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as long as negotiations are ongoing,” sources told the daily.

The delegation had reportedly arrived overnight Thursday in Lebanon before immediately heading to the Bekaa town of Arsal, which borders Syria.

Informed sources told the daily that the Lebanese government prefers to remain silent over any development.

Sources close to the Nusra Front said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that the Qatari delegation didn't hold direct talks with the group's leaders.

“The meeting was held through mediators,” the sources said, confirming that a list of demands was handed over to the delegation.

On Saturday, the Islamic State group said that a meeting was held with Qatari mediators and that "other parties" were obstructing the talks.

The Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported that the Qatari delegation tasked a Syrian national with mediating with the Islamist gunmen the release of the abducted security personnel.

The newspaper identifies the Syrian national by his initials J. H., pointing out that he played a leading role in the release of 12 abducted Syrian nuns from the Syrian Maaloula in March.

Lebanon has been reportedly seeking the help of Qatar and Turkey to ensure their safe release.

On Saturday, several pro-jihadist Twitter accounts published gruesome pictures apparently showing Islamic State militants beheading Lebanese army soldier Abbas Medlej, around ten days after the same group executed captive army sergeant Ali al-Sayyed.

About two dozen more members of the country's security forces remain held captive by the militants. They were seized in August when several Syrian rebel factions, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida linked Nusra Front, overran Arsal, killing and kidnapping soldiers and policemen in the most serious spillover yet of the neighboring civil war.