REPORT: Families of abducted troops stage sit-in, Min. Abou Faour says their case of utmost importance

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour stressed Thursday that the case of the abducted troops is a matter of utmost importance and must be the main focus of official meetings until a solution is found.

In a statement he issued while meeting with the families of the abducted troops who staged a sit-in outside the Grand Serail, Abou Faour said that he has complete confidence in Prime Minister Tammam Salam, the crisis committee and the Director General of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.

For their part, the protesters urged the government to hold consecutive sessions in order to reach a solution for their case, warning against any procrastination in dealing with this issue.

The families of the abducted troops had gathered earlier to stage a sit-in in Riyadh al-Solh Square outside the Grand Serail, where a cabinet session is underway, in a bid to exert pressure on the officials to adopt the prisoner swap deal to release the kidnapped soldiers.

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 al-Nusra Front in the border town of Arsal. 

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.


To watch Maytham Kassir's report, please click on the video above.