Families of Arsal Captives Hold Sit-in by Interior Ministry, Lament Negligence of their Case

The relatives of the kidnapped servicemen held a sit-in on Friday in front of the Interior Ministry and blocked the road near the Central Bank in the Beirut area of Hamra, demanding the release of their sons after more than 14 months of captivity.

The families also prevented the security forces from reopening the Banks Street in downtown Beirut after it was blocked during the civil society protests on Thursday.

They held the “government, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and Speaker Nabih Berri responsible for the negligence in solving the (controversial) file.”

Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) later said that Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had agreed to receive the families at noon on Tuesday.

The relatives later headed to the Msaitbeh area in Beirut and held a brief sit-in in front of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's residence before returning to Downtown Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square.

Later on Friday, Abbas told Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper on the kidnapping ordeal: “This experience has taught us patience and the adoption of secrecy as they are the keys to success in such operations.”

“Similar abductions have taken much longer time to be resolved,” he noted.

Addressing alleged complications in the file, he remarked: “I can say that this is not the Lebanese state's fault, but that of the kidnappers, who are exploiting this file for their personal agenda.”

The servicemen were taken hostage by the al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State extremist group in August 2014 when they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal.

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

Al-Nusra Front has in its captivity 16 soldiers and policemen, while nine remain held by the IS.

Negotiations with the jihadists have stalled over their crippling demands.

D.A./M.T.

G.K.