BEIRUT: The head of Lebanon’s General Security flew to Qatar to follow up on the 27 Lebanese soldiers and policemen being held captive by Islamist militants along the border with Syria.
The local daily As-Safir said Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim would hold talks Monday with Qatari officials assigned to defuse the hostage crisis.
Meanwhile, the Beirut newspaper Al-Liwaa said negotiations had been halted over the hostage crisis.
Citing information attributed to some mediators, Al-Liwaa said negotiations with the armed groups affiliated with ISIS and the Nusra Front had stalled due to bad weather conditions in the barren terrain along the Syria border and the confusion caused by the replacement of Nusra’s Qalamoun commander Abu Malik Talle, who is no longer present in the area.
Talle was reportedly replaced by another commander Abu Aameer, who had conducted negotiations with mediators in an effort to swap the hostages and to secure a safe passage for the militants.
The report could not be independently verified.
Ministerial sources, however, denied in remarks published Monday that negotiations to resolve the hostage ordeal had been halted.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam was said to have expressed pessimism concerning the outcome of the hostage crisis.
ISIS and the Nusra Front are still holding 27 soldiers and policemen captive on Lebanon's northeast border with Syria.
The servicemen were abducted during a five-day battle with the Lebanese Army in the northeastern town of Arsal in August.
Their families have set up tents near the Grand Serail to pressure the government to negotiate their release by exchanging Islamist prisoners being held at Roumieh Prison.
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