Report: Doubts Loom over Beheading of al-Sayyed by IS

Conflicting reports emerged over the validity of images showing a Lebanese soldier beheaded by an alleged Islamic State militant calling himself Abu Musaab Hafid al-Baghdadi.

Security sources questioned, in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday, the validity of the pictures, estimating that the beheaded man is not soldier Ali al-Sayyed.

According to the newspaper, the military will not issue a communique regarding the alleged pictures before making sure if al-Sayyed is still alive or not.

Sources close to the case of the Arsal captives said that the Islamist militants aim at creating a rift between the army and the Lebanese people by posting such images.

On Thursday, al-Baghdadi posted pictures on his Twitter account that show him cutting off the head of a blindfolded man with a medium beard.

He identified the supposed victim as “Ali al-Sayyed, an apostate soldier belonging to the army of the cross (Lebanese army).”

The militant said the purported execution is in response to “the attempts of the party of Satan (Hizbullah) to torpedo the negotiations” over the captive Lebanese soldiers and policemen who were abducted after jihadists overran the Bekaa border town of Arsal on August 2.

The unconfirmed reports of al-Sayyed's beheading by the ruthless Islamic State sparked protests and road blocking in Akkar on Friday.

Sources claimed in remarks to al-Hayat that al-Sayyed had defected after Arsal battles, which proves that he hasn't been slaughtered.

Also on Friday, a new videotape emerged for several kidnapped soldiers and policemen, calling on their parents to block roads and pressure the cabinet to release them in exchange for Islamist inmates held in Roumieh.

Two of the troops also remarked that their execution will take place in three days if the demands of their abductors were not met.

H.K.

D.A.