Al-Nusra Front to broadcast video showing 9 kidnapped LAF soldiers – official

The soldiers, who are Druze and Christians, were identified according to the official as: Georges Khoury, Pierre Geagea, Georges Khazaka (Christians) and Rayan Salam, Rawad Bou Darghamin, Maher Fayad, Nahi Bou Khalfouni, Wael Homs, and Maymoun Jaber (Druze).

On Saturday (august 30), the al-Nusra Front released four Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers and one Internal Security Forces member it had kidnapped during the clashes with the Lebanese Army in Arsal earlier in August. 

The five men were identified as Ahmad Ghieh, Ibrahim Shaaban, Saleh al-Baradei, Mohammad al-Qaderi and Wael Darwish. 

Clashes flared up on August 01 when Syrian gunmen deployed across the region after the Lebanese Armed Forces arrested Imad Jomaa at a checkpoint. 

The clashes left at least 20 soldiers dead and 86 injured. 

On Thursday (August 07), a military source stated that a truce in Arsal appeared to be holding and the situation in the border town was quiet. 

The Muslim Scholars Association had launched an initiative to ensure the return of the kidnapped soldiers and served as a mediator between the gunmen and the Lebanese authorities.

Later on, the Association declared that it will suspend all activities to make way for other sides to deploy efforts in this regard.

The gunmen had issued a list of demands, which include the release of several Islamist inmates from the infamous Roumieh prison. A demand the interior minister had rejected.

Lebanese security officials say the fighters include members of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.

Hezbollah has sent armed men to Syria to fight alongside the Syrian regime troops against rebels seeking to topple President Bachar al-Assad.