BEIRUT: General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim is "obstructing" negotiations to free the 27 captive soldiers held by jihadists in Lebanon's northeast border region, the Nusra Front said, according to the father of a hostage.
Hussein Youssef, the father of Mohammed, told a local radio station Thursday that he had received a call from his son's captors complaining that Ibrahim is preventing a deal with the Islamists to free the captives.
"The Nusra Front told us yesterday that [Ibrahim] is obstructing the file of the military hostages," Youssef told Voice of Lebanon radio station.
"Health Minister Wael Abu Faour is the only one who takes this file seriously, and we should be thanking him for preventing our children from being executed," he added.
He also said the families would soon be escalating their protests to pressure officials to free the hostages, abducted by Nusra and ISIS militants during a five-day battle with the Army in Arsal nearly three months ago.
"Escalations will not stop at burning tires," he warned. "We will pressure politicians and ministers using all the means available to us."
The captors routinely call the families of the hostages to urge them to escalate their protests.
Abu Faour, who has been tasked with following up with the hostage families, has been credited with stopping the imminent execution of soldier Ali Bazzal earlier this week.
Sheikh Mustafa Hujeiri, who at one point was involved in negotiations, told The Daily Star Wednesday that Abu Faour persuaded Nusra not to kill Bazzal or other soldiers.
Abu Faour last week said he has personally received a list of demands from the jihadists.
The demands have not been publicly disclosed, but it has been widely reported that they are seeking to swap the hostages for Islamist prisoners.
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