Qatar's Envoy Back in Beirut as Negotiations with Hostage-Takers Enter New Stage
Qatar's mediator, Ahmed al-Khatib, returned to Beirut on Thursday and went into immediate talks with Lebanese officials on the negotiations aimed at securing the release of servicemen taken hostage by jihadists.
Reports said the negotiations have entered a new stage and that al-Khatib, a Syrian, is expected to head to the northeastern border town of Arsal on Friday to follow up the case.
The Lebanese soldiers and policemen were taken captive in August when militants from the extremist Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front infiltrated Arsal from Syria and engaged in bloody clashes with troops.
Lebanon now has the upper hand in the negotiations with the jihadists after the Lebanese army arrested Saja al-Dulaimi, a divorcee of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Even if she's no longer al-Baghdadi's wife, al-Dulaimi could potentially serve as a bargaining chip with the Syria-based militants.
The Lebanese authorities have also detained, separately, the wife of senior Nusra Front leader Anas Sharkas, who is also known as Abu Ali al-Shishani.
The government has been under intense pressure from the families of the captured men to negotiate their release.
Al-Khatib's return to Beirut came two days after Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged the Qatari emir to revive his country's mediation in the negotiations on the hostages.
Salam telephoned Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid al-Thani to urge him to help “end the suffering of the families” of the soldiers and policemen.
The Emir expressed his “great interest in assisting Lebanon and the Lebanese in this ordeal” and informed Salam that he will give “immediate orders” to the officials tasked with dealing with the case to “make the necessary contacts.”
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/157902 |