REPORT: Families of Arsal captives meet with PM Salam at Grand Serail...

3^min

Prime Minister Tammam Salam met on Thursday with a delegation of the families of kidnapped troops at the Grand Serail.

Mohammad Kheir, the general-secretary of the Higher Defense Council, told the families who gathered outside the Serail, that the Lebanese state is working for the release of the captives.

Families of the Arsal captives staged a sit-in outside the Grand Serail and vowed they will not leave before meeting with PM Tammam Salam.

The protesters voiced their resentment over the concerned authorities' way of dealing with the captives dossier, slamming the stalled negotiations and the state of inaction.

Relatives of soldiers who were kidnapped during clashes with armed groups in the northeastern border town of Arsal also marched on Sunday from Beirut’s Martyr’s Square towards the Grand Serail.

The relatives called on concerned authorities to exert the necessary efforts in order to secure the release of the soldiers.

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.

While the release of the five men provided a degree of relief, concerns remain about the troops and policemen still in captivity.

To watch Maroun Nassif's report, please click on the video above.

News Bulletin Reports

Families

Arsal

captives

Salam

Grand

Serail

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