BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam discussed Tuesday the hostage crisis with Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim hours after the servicemen’s families threatened to escalate their protest in the event the government does not brief them about progress in the negotiations.
A source close to Salam told The Daily Star that Salam and his visitors discussed the hostage file and other security-related issues during a two-hour meeting.
Earlier, the hostages’ families warned the Lebanese government that it had 24 hours to clarify the exact status of negotiations for the release of the Lebanese soldiers and policemen being held by militants from Syria, or they would escalate their protest and close down more roads.
“Given the [hostage] crisis we are going through and to ease the pressure on fellow citizens, we decided to give the government a 24-hour deadline to [brief us on the status of negotiations], which sides are obstructing these negotiations and what is the fate of our children,” a statement released by the hostages’ families Tuesday morning said.
“As a goodwill gesture on our part, we decided not to close any roads Tuesday, with the exception of the [protest] campsites at Dahr al-Baidar and Qalamoun.”
The statement said this was the last warning the families would give. Sources close to the families said the ultimatum ends early Wednesday morning.
Dahr al-Baidar, which links Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, remained shut after demonstrators erected high sand mounds Monday, blocking all access, including a narrow passageway that had been kept open for ambulances and emergency cases, disrupting traffic on the Bekaa Valley’s main artery for a second week.
The hostages’ families had initially put up huge tents to block the Beirut-Damascus Highway.
On the Qalamoun Highway in north Lebanon, protesters have erected two tents on the side of the road and only block traffic upon a collective decision by the hostages’ families.
The frustrated relatives have shut off many roads across Lebanon over the last several weeks to press the government into speeding up efforts toward the release of their loved ones.
At least 21 Lebanese soldiers and policemen are held captive by ISIS and the Nusra Front since their brief takeover of the northeastern border town of Arsal in early August.
Among other demands, the captors are reportedly seeking to swap the servicemen with Islamist inmates held at Roumieh prison.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour once again urged the government to endorse the Qatari-mediated deal to exchange the captive soldiers with the Roumieh inmates.
“We as Progressive Socialist Party still believe that the government should accept a swap [deal] and move forward with it,” Abu Faour told a news conference after meeting Salam at the Grand Serail in Beirut.
He said every day that did not result in progress toward this goal “is risking the lives of the servicemen.” Abu Faour pointed to what appeared to be a recent swap deal between Turkey and ISIS and the 2008 Israel-Hezbollah prisoner exchange.
According to reports leaked to the Times, two British jihadists were handed back to ISIS in a prisoner swap deal with the Turkish government. They were among 180 jihadists exchanged in return for 49 Turkish diplomats captured by ISIS in May.
No comments:
Post a Comment