Families of the kidnapped Lebanese troops burned tires in Beirut's Riyad al-Solh Square on Monday, blocked the Saifi road and warned they will cut-off all roads in the capital Beirut until the state revokes judicial decisions against Islamist detainees.
Meanwhile, the wife of kidnapped soldier Khaled Moqbel Hasan received a phone call from the Islamic State militant group that told her that a deadline to kill a number of captives has been extended to 4 p.m. on Monday.
The brother of kidnapped soldier Ibrahim Mghait had also received, at around 10 a.m., a phone call from members of the Islamic State group.
He was told that the kidnappers will kill a number of captives after two hours if judicial decisions, issued against 5 Fatah al-Islam prisoners on Friday, were not revoked.
In an interview with the state-run National News Agency, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said death sentences against the Islamist detainees have been reduced to life imprisonment.
"Negotiations are being carried out via the ministerial crisis cell, not the judiciary," Rifi said, adding "both the cell and the judiciary are fulfilling their duties".
A number of deputies partook in Monday's sit-in staged by families of the kidnapped troops with Future Bloc MP Hadi Hobeish hoping threats facing the hostages would diminish, paving the way for solutions that could be brokered with the Lebanese government.
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.