Prime Minister Tammam Salam phone called on Tuesday Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani to follow up on the case of the kidnapped Lebanese soldiers.
During the phone call, PM Salam voiced hopes that Qatar would activate its mediation efforts to help the Lebanese government in securing the release of the hostages.
For his part, Sheikh Tamim stressed that he is following up on the issue.
Calm was reported on Tuesday in Beirut’s Riyad al-Solh square where the families of the Arsal captives have been protesting the failure to release their loved ones.
The captives’ families said road closures will be suspended as long as the officials are working on settling their case.
The families also said there were positive developments today: “The Nusra Front has halted the execution of captive LAF soldier Ali al-Bazzal, the wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was arrested, the General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim said he will visit Syria in the next two days and the General Security announced that dissident colonel Abdullah al-Rifai’s fate is linked to the negotiations over the Arsal hostages”.
Earlier, sources with knowledge of the Arsal captives dossier told LBCI that Abbas Ibrahim will visit Damascus in the next two days, and for the second time, to hold further discussions over the case.
On Monday, a ministerial source said that the Lebanese government will not spare any effort to settle the case of the troops who were kidnapped in the border town of Arsal back in August.
"The cabinet will hold direct negotiations with the kidnappers if the circumstances were favorable," the source told LBCI.
"Negotiations are currently being held via two channels: the Director General of General Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, through the mediation of the Qatari delegate, and Health Minister Wael Abou Faour through the mediation of Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujeiri," the same source said.
It added that a swap deal to secure the release of the Arsal captives has become feasible.
The captives' relatives have been staging sit-ins and blocking roads in order to urge the release of the troops who were kidnapped by militants from the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front in the border town of Arsal back in August.
The al-Nusra Front released on Saturday (September 20) a video depicting the execution of the Lebanese soldier Mohammad Hamieh with a bullet to the head. The video also showed Lebanese soldier Ali al-Bazzal pleading his family to act or else he would face execution.
In the same regard, Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted on Saturday (September 06) a commander of the Islamic State as saying that the group had executed one of the captured Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers for trying to escape.
"LAF soldier Abbas Medlej tried to escape from prison and after he attempted to open fire at IS members, we took control of the situation by slaughtering him," the Islamic State- Qalamoun branch said in a statement.
Also on August 28, the Islamic State posted photos and a video online depicting a militant beheading a blindfolded hostage who was identified as Lebanese Armed Forces Sergeant Ali al-Sayyed.
On Sunday (August 31), Lebanon's military said an al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebel group released five members of the Lebanese security forces captured earlier in August in a cross-border raid.
The men were taken hostage when militants from Syria took over the Lebanese border town of Arsal for five days before withdrawing toward the Syrian frontier, taking with them Lebanese soldiers and policemen as hostages. The clashes were the most dangerous spillover of violence from the civil war in neighboring Syria.
The clashes flared up when Syrian gunmen deployed across the region after the Lebanese Armed Forces arrested Imad Jomaa at a checkpoint.
The detention of Imad Jomaa, the leader of the Fajr al-Islam Brigade, had caused security tension in the border town of Arsal, claiming the lives of 20 soldiers and leaving 86 others injured.
While the release of the five men provided a degree of relief, concerns remain about the troops and policemen still in captivity.
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