Arsal Captives' Conditions 'Very Bad' as Soldier Reported Killed in August Clashes
General Security Abbas Ibrahim informed on Friday the family of soldier Ali Qassem that he was killed in the August clashes in the northeastern border town of Arsal, reported al-Jadeed television.
LBCI television reported that he was killed while being kidnapped by Islamist gunmen who had overrun the town in August.
His corpse is however still with the gunmen who engaged in clashes with the army.
The extremists kidnapped a number of soldiers and security forces from the town.
Three have since been executed, a number were freed, while the rest remain kidnapped.
MTV reported that Qassem was killed when he attempted to toss a grenade at the captors.
Earlier, it was reported that the family of kidnapped soldier Ibrahim Mgheit was able to meet him on the outskirts of Arsal.
They said that the conditions of the captives are “very bad.”
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Nusra Front were behind the kidnapping.
They had recently allowed the relatives of the captives to visit them.
The relatives of abducted soldiers and policemen briefly blocked on Monday several roads in the capital Beirut to demand the judiciary to lift sanctions against several Islamist inmates after jihadists threatened to start killing the captives.
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.
The group added that the swap with the prisoners held at Syrian prisons should take place in Turkey or Qatar, while the exchange with the Lebanese authorities should take place on the outskirts of Arsal.
The cabinet had previously totally rejected any swap deal with the jihadists.
M.T.
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