BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri assured Friday a delegation of the families of Lebanese captive servicemen that the swap deal is an option under scrutiny for liberating their loved ones, noting that he had received positive information in that regard.
“Be assured that all Lebanese regardless of their religion, sect or faction consider the cause of the captive soldiers as their own,” Berri said, stressing that “the swap deal is being considered in principle.”
Berri told the delegation who visited him at his residence in Ain al-Tineh that he was coordinating on the issue with MP Walid Jumblatt, noting that he had received information that “matters were improving” towards ending the soldiers’ four-month-long ordeal.
The speaker reiterated his stance calling for complete discretion on the progress of negotiations leading to the aspired outcome.
ISIS and Nusra Front militants have been holding 25 troops and policemen hostage on the outskirts of Arsal since overrunning the northeast border town in early August. They seek to trade them with Islamist detainees held in Lebanese and Syrian prisons.
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