Father of Lebanese soldier denies execution

TARAYA, Lebanon: The father of a Lebanese captured soldier whom Nusra Front said it executed denied Saturday that his son had been killed, saying authorities had informed him otherwise.

"Figures in Arsal and security and government officials have told us that what had been circulating about the death of our son is untrue and that such claims were part of threats and intimidation," Maarouf Hammieh said in a news conference in his hometown, the Baalbek village of Taraya.

He said that Nusra Front claims that they had executed Mohammad Hammieh with gunfire had not yet been verified, holding the government fully responsible if the news was accurate.

"In case news of our son's death is true, I blame the government for his killing because they deliberately were slow in the negotiations and were not serious about them."

The distraught father, surrounded by dozens of his relatives and Taraya residents, also held Arsal Mayor Mustafa Hujeiri responsible for the death of his son.

Twitter accounts affiliated with Nusra Front said that Hammieh was "the one who paid the price" for Hezbollah's attempts to obstruct negotiations as well as the Lebanese Army's arrest of "civilians and shelling of Qalamoun."

The statements also warned that Nusra Front was preparing to execute another soldier.

Following a bomb attack against Lebanese troops in Arsal that killed two soldiers, the military launched raids in search of gunmen with some media reports saying that some 200 people were arrested.

The Nusra Front first threatened to kill Hammieh Tuesday, saying that he might be the first “to pay the price” of failed negotiations with the Lebanese government and Hezbollah’s continued crackdown on Syrian refugees in Arsal and along the town’s borders.

The government has been engaged in indirect negotiations through a Qatari-sponsored mediation with militants over the release of the abducted security personnel.

Nusra Front and ISIS are both demanding the release of Islamist prisoners from Roumieh Prison in exchange for the Lebanese hostages. They are holding at least 22 soldiers and policemen captured during last month's clashes between radical militants and the Lebanese Army in the northeastern region of Arsal.

While Nusra has released seven policemen as a sign of goodwill, ISIS has beheaded two soldiers.