BEIRUT: Militants are holding the captive Lebanese troops in deep caves in the border region between Arsal and Syria’s Qalamoun, a Lebanese newspaper reported Sunday.
In the report quoting “very accurate information,” Al-Mustaqbal said that kidnapped troops held by ISIS were in a cave in Wadi al-Rahwe in Arsal’s outskirts while the captives held by the Nusra Front are most probably in Wadi Mira in the Qalamoun region of Syria.
The outskirts of Lebanon's Arsal and Syria's Qalamoun are divided only by the undemarcated border between the countries, with little to differentiate the two areas.
According to Al-Mustaqbal, there are many caves in the area, with some as large as 7 meters in height and 70 meters in depth.
The report said that the soldiers and policemen were sleeping in dormitories created inside the caves, which are setup with lighting and heating equipment.
Al-Mustaqbal’s sources said the militants had taken over many farmhouses in the area to equip and supply themselves, while cutting the farms’ cherry trees to use as fuel in the winter.
The two fundamentalist groups kidnapped more than 30 policemen and soldiers in August, during fierce clashes with the Lebanese Army in Arsal.
However, the Nusra Front executed one of the captive soldiers, Mohammad Hammieh, with a bullet in the head Friday night, threatening to kill another soon. Hammieh was the third captive to be killed, while Nusra Front has released seven.
The Lebanese government has been carrying out negotiations with the extremists through various mediators, but has ruled out releasing Islamist prisoners, a key demand of the militants.
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