REPORT: Families of Arsal troops abandon escalation in wake of...

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The families and relatives of the troops abducted by jihadists in the border town of Arsal declared that they will not escalate their steps in the wake of the positive developments in the case of their loved ones.

“We will back down from our decision to escalate our actions and remain silent instead, in a hope to resolve this humanitarian file,” Nizam Mgheit, the brother of military hostage Ibrahim Mgheit said.

Yesterday, the Islamic State militant group handed the Lebanese Armed Forces the bodies of martyr Ali al-Ali, a soldier who was killed during clashes with the group back in August 2nd, and that of citizen Mamdouh Younes who hails from the town of Brital.

The Lebanese army is due to conduct DNA tests on both bodies to confirm their identities.

Families of the abducted troops have been staging sit-ins in across Lebanon to exert pressure on politicians to hasten the negotiations to release the hostages kidnapped by militants from the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front in the border town of Arsal.

The men were taken hostage in August 2014 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 five men provided a degree of relief, concerns remain about the troops and policemen still in captivity, as several were executed by the terrorist groups to exert pressure on the Lebanese authorities to meet their demands.

The abductors are demanding the release of Islamist detainees in Lebanese prisons in exchange for the release of the hostages. Negotiations have been ongoing, with the help of a mediator in order to reach common terms to release the hostages, but no results have been reached so far.

To watch Edmond Sassine's report, please click on the VIDEO above