Report: Negotiations on Release of Arsal Captives Positive, but still in Early Phase
The negotiations on the release of the policemen and soldiers kidnapped by Islamist gunmen in August are still in their early phase in light of the recent demands made by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Thursday.
An official source said that the negotiations are “positive, but no guarantees on their release are available.”
The source made its remarks in light of a meeting on Thursday of the crisis cell aimed at tackling this file.
A delegation of the families of the captives, kidnapped from the northeastern border town of Arsal, had held talks on Thursday with Higher Relief Council chief Mohammed Kheir following the crisis group meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam.
Meanwhile, sources monitoring the talks had told al-Joumhouria newspaper Thursday that no progress has been made in the negotiations.
The Qatari negotiator tackling the case is still in Lebanon and carrying out contacts linked to the affair.
Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Thursday in order to discuss the kidnappers' demands and the results of Thursday's crisis cell meeting.
Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State groups have been holding several troops and policemen hostage since August 2, when they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal and engaged in bloody clashes with the army.
The two groups have since executed three troops and threatened to murder more hostages if Lebanese authorities didn't fulfill their demands.
The Lebanese government has not given the greenlight for a swap deal with al-Nusra Front after a Qatari negotiator handed over to Lebanese officials the list of names of inmates it wants released in exchange for the captive servicemen.
The Nusra said that the three-month hostage crisis would end if 10 inmates held at Lebanese prisons would be freed for each hostage or seven Lebanese inmates and 30 female prisoners held in Syria would be released for each abducted soldier and policeman or if five Lebanese and 50 women inmates would be freed.
M.T.
H.K.
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