Report: Al-Nusra Front Holding Captives in 2-Story House
The al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front is holding the captives from the Lebanese army and police at a two-story house on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.
The house lies near the so-called al-Nour encampment for Syrian refugees, the daily said.
The same house had been used by jihadists to hold foreign journalists, who were kidnapped in Syria and later released in return for ransom, al-Akhbar added.
The report did not say where the Islamic State group was keeping its captives.
It came a day after al-Mustaqbal newspaper said that the soldiers and members of the Internal Security Forces abducted by the IS are held in a cave in Wadi al-Rahwa while the ones taken captive by al-Nusra Front are present in Wadi Mira.
The two caves lie on Arsal's outskirts.
The troops and policemen were kidnapped after the jihadists overran Arsal in August. They later killed three of them and warned they would murder more captives if the Lebanese authorities did not meet their demands.
As Safir daily quoted informed officials as saying that the army killed over over the weekend more than 50 terrorists on Arsal's outskirts.
It also carried out a series of arrests in encampments in the area, capturing around 140 people, most of them Syrians.
Thirty-five of them admitted to participating in the fighting against the army or plotting for terrorist activities against the military, the officials said.
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