Qatari Envoy to Return amid Conflicting Reports on Nusra's Threat to Murder al-Bazzal
Conflicting reports emerged Friday evening on whether or not al-Nusra Front had backed down from its threat to execute captive soldier Ali al-Bazzal, as the General Security announced that the Qatari mediator will return to Lebanon “in the coming hours.”
“The General Security communicated with the Qatari side, which informed General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim that the Qatari mediator will return again to Lebanon in the coming hours,” state-run National News Agency reported.
“Following contacts and efforts by Maj. Gen. Ibrahim, al-Nusra Front backed down from its threat to behead captive soldier Ali al-Bazzal,” NNA added.
For its part NBN television said al-Nusra backed down from its threat “following efforts and indirect contacts by the Lebanese General Security.”
But the upbeat reports were dismissed later on Friday by al-Bazzal's wife, who said she was informed by Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujeiri – who has several times mediated with al-Nusra -- that the Qaida-linked group is “determined” to execute her husband.
“It has not backed down from the deadline it had given to the government,” the wife added.
She was referring to an eight-hour deadline announced by al-Nusra on Friday afternoon.
“We have not backed down from the decision to execute the captive soldier and we have not extended the deadline. The equation is clear: freeing a female prisoner in Lebanon in return for halting the execution,” a Nusra source, meanwhile, told Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
As the group announced its new threat, the families of the captive troops and policemen took to the street and blocked the vital Saifi road in the capital Beirut.
The road was later reopened after the families were told that al-Nusra had decided to reverse its decision.
Bazzal is one of around 27 soldiers and police who were taken hostage in August when al-Nusra and the Islamic State group infiltrated the northeastern town of Arsal through the porous Syrian-Lebanese border and engaged in bloody clashes with the army.
A few of them have since been released, three were executed, while the rest are still kidnapped.
Al-Nusra had on Thursday threatened to execute Bazzal within 24 hours if the Lebanese government did not start what it called “serious negotiations.”
It also called on the Lebanese authorities to release Jumana Hmayyed, who was arrested near Arsal in February while driving a booby-trapped car that entered Lebanon from Syria's Yabrud region.
Y.R.
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