Families of the kidnapped Lebanese troops have been living in fear as they remain in the streets of Beirut's Riyad al-Solh, calling for the release of the soldiers who were abducted in the northeastern border town of Arsal back in August.
Turkey's Anatolia news agency posted late on Sunday photos of the troops who were taken as hostages by the Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. The captives were recording a letter of appeal to the Lebanese people.
Hamzah Homs, the father of kidnapped soldier Wael Homs, urged Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab to remain silent to avoid further problems and keep the captives safe.
"The Lebanese state should be convinced that a settlement should not be brokered with the Nusra Front," Wahhab said on Sunday, noting that negotiations with terrorists will not pay off since they are "hypocrites".
Al-Nusra Front official told Anatolia news agency on Sunday that the group decided to postpone for four hours the execution of one of the Arsal captives.
Earlier, the Muslim Scholars Association called on the gunmen in Arsal against executing any Lebanese soldier because such an act will further complicate matters.
In turn, the relatives of the Arsal kidnapped soldiers also urged the al-Nusra Front against executing their loved ones and against holding them responsible for the unrest in North Lebanon.
The al-Nusra Front said on Sunday morning that it will commence the execution of one of the Arsal abducted Lebanese troops at 10:00 A.M in case the Lebanese army "did not break the siege on the Sunnites in the northern city of Tripoli."
“We will otherwise be forced within the next few hours to end the file of the abducted soldiers and consider them as prisoners of war,” it declared.
Several soldiers and policemen were abducted by the al-Nusra Front and Islamic State group militants at the end of clashes with the army in August.
Three of the abducted soldiers have since been executed, a few were released, and the rest remain held by the gunmen.
The militants have made several demands for their release, including the release of Islamist inmates from the Roumieh prison.
Several civilians and troops were killed and around 20 soldiers and civilians were injured in armed clashes in the old markets of the northern city of Tripoli that erupted Friday evening and continued until Sunday morning.
Ever since the uprising in neighboring Syria erupted out in 2011, Tripoli has been the scene of regular battles between Sunni militants and members of Lebanon's Alawite minority.
Islamist gunmen have also turned on the Lebanese army, accusing it of targeting Sunnis and of cooperating with Hezbollah.
For more details, watch Maytham Kassir's report in the video above
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