Report: Nusra Front Hands Over Demands to Mediator in Hostages Case
Al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front reportedly handed over to the Qatari appointed mediator a list of its demands in return for the release of the Lebanese soldiers and policemen in its captivity.
According to As Safir newspaper published on Saturday, the demands include the names of the inmates that the Nusra seeks their release from Lebanese and Syrian prisons.
Qatari intelligence chief Ghanem al-Kubaisi reportedly tasked an assistant to convey the demands of al-Nusra to the Lebanese state.
He will meet with General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim after he returns from a short visit to Washington to follow up their latest talks in Doha, the daily said.
Media reports had said that Qatar's mediation to release the servicemen abducted by Islamist gunmen have intensified in recent days as Ibrahim recently expressed his satisfaction with the course of the negotiations.
Sheikh Omar Haidar, a member of the committee representing the families of abducted servicemen, told As Safir that contacts are ongoing between the relatives, Ibrahim and Mohamed Khair, the secretary general of the Higher Defense Council.
“We were informed three weeks ago by official sources affiliated to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) the freezing of negotiations due to internal reasons,” Haidar added.
However, he pointed out that negotiations will not go to the starting point.
Sources said that ISIL is ready to adopt the same mechanism as al-Nusra Front regarding a prisoners swap deal.
A number of soldiers and policemen were abducted by al-Nusra Front and Islamic State group gunmen in the wake of clashes in Arsal in August.
A few of them have since been released, four were executed, and the rest remain held.
The captors have been demanding the release of Islamists held in Lebanon as a condition to set them free.
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