Prisoners Swap Deal with Nusra Front Reaches Final Stages

Negotiations regarding a prisoners swap deal between the Lebanese state and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front reached the final stages as discussions are currently focusing on the timing and the place of the release.

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted a concerned source as saying that the exchange of captives and prisoners could be either carried out in Turkey or on the outskirts of Lebanon's Eastern Mountain range.

The source said that Lebanon would have to release three convicted inmates in exchange for each serviceman taken hostage by al-Nusra.

Al-Nusra Front has in its captivity 16 soldiers and policemen, while nine remain held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“The mechanism of the deal should be based on legal and judicial measures that allow the release of the prisoners.”

The source stressed that the “timing of the deal will be soon set after the two sides agree on the place.”

Last week, the captive servicemen taken hostage by al-Nusra Front warned via a video tape released by the group that they will be executed if Syria's Qalamoun front was waged.

“If the Lebanese army and Hizbullah were dragged into a battle in Qalamoun, we will be the ones to pay the price,” one of the soldiers said, accusing General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim of “lying to the families of the servicemen.”

However, Ibrahim slammed the accusations, noting that mediators are “racing time” to secure a swap deal to free the Lebanese servicemen, amid concerns that military developments in Syria's Qalamoun region might affect their fate.

A number of soldiers and policemen were abducted by al-Nusra Front and ISIL gunmen in the wake of clashes in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

A few of them have since been released and four were executed.

H.K.

G.K.