BEIRUT: Swapping Islamist prisoners for the captive security personnel detained by jihadi militants is the only solution that the government is ready to implement to end the two-month hostage crisis, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said Thursday.
“The swap is the only way to secure the release of the kidnapped soldiers, and the Lebanese state wants to hold serious negotiations in that regard,” Abu Faour said as he met the captives’ relatives, who shifted their protest campsite to Riad al-Solh Square, in front of the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut.
The father of captive Mohammad Youssef told media at the square that he had received a phone call from his son's captors threatening to execute their hostages in three days if they did not move their protests to Roumieh Prison to press for the release of Islamist prisoners.
Abu Faour cautioned that executing the hostages “will lead to a total destruction of negotiations and all efforts to resolve the issue.”
Families of the at least 21 soldiers and policemen being held captive by the jihadist Nusra Front and ISIS moved their protest Wednesday from Dahr al-Baidar to Beirut, clearing the vital highway linking the capital and the Bekaa Valley, which they had blocked for more than two weeks.
The key demand for the militants, who have already executed three captive soldiers, is the release of Islamist detainees in Roumieh Prison in return for the hostages.
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