Fate of Arsal negotiators rests on Salam meeting

BEIRUT : The Committee of Muslim Scholars will decide whether to withdraw from the talks to free Lebanese soldiers after meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam in the Grand Serail Friday afternoon, Sheikh Adnan Amama told The Daily Star

“If the government sticks by the 'no-compromise' policy during the meeting, then the door to negotiations would be closed,” Amama said.

The Committee of Muslim Scholars is set to meet briefly with Prime Minister Tammam Salam in the Grand Serail at 4 p.m. Friday. The meeting will not last more than 30 minutes, a source told The Daily Star.

Amama said the scholars were waiting for Lebanon’s official response to demands put forward by militants from the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) to free 29 Lebanese soldiers and members of the Internal Security Forces who were seized during clashes in the border town of Arsal in early August.

The Grand Serail will not release a statement after the meeting, as the government continues its media blackout over militant negotiations.

The prime minister’s office said that it would not disclose any information concerning the meeting, the source said.

With regards to the release of Roumieh prisoners that are allegedly included in the demands, the committee member said that they had “yet to reach the stage of listing exact names.”

“There is a general demand for releasing Syrians placed under injustice,” he said, emphasizing that speculation over the identities of the exact suspects is still “premature.”

The committee member said the government had already carried out humanitarian demands, such as the delivery of aid and the treatment of refugees wounded during clashes.

The committee was reportedly weighing the option of withdrawing from its role as intermediary after Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said earlier this week that the government would not make “compromises” with the militants and after rumors circulated that external actors would step in.

The Committee of Muslim Scholars cited rumors that Qatar or Turkey might be the foreign intermediaries.

However, Machnouk said in remarks published Thursday that Lebanon was working to free the kidnapped soldiers and policemen without the help of any foreign mediator. Last year, Qatar, with mediation from General Security head Abbas Ibrahim, played a crucial role in the release of nine Lebanese pilgrims taken hostage by rebel groups in Syria.