BEIRUT: Families of the captive soldiers and policemen are only relying on the state and not any other actor to bring back their sons, they said in a statement Thursday, promising an escalatory step starting Friday.
“We do not accept that our sons are released except through the state, because it is the only side that represents us and speaks on our behalf,” the families said in an official statement.
This came one day after it was widely reported that the families addressed Hezbollah and its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, asking him to release their sons like he did with his party’s captive.
Hezbollah recently completed a swap deal with a branch of the Free Syrian Army that had kidnapped one of its fighters for less than months.
“This was an emotional spontaneous reaction... not a statement,” Talal Taleb, the father of the captive serviceman Mohammad Taleb, told The Daily Star. “Our stand is clear: We rely on the Lebanese government and no one else to liberate them.”
Hours before the end of the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Grand Serail, the families reiterated their threat to escalate their protests Friday.
“We warn the Lebanese state and the crisis cell that if they do not make a bold, quick and clear decision that leads to the release of our sons as soon as possible, we will head to a serious escalation,” Thursday’s statement said. “We hold the state responsible for the negative consequences that might result of this escalation.”
The nature of Friday’s escalation will be blocking Downtown Beirut, according to Taleb.
“I believe that tomorrow [we will] close the entire downtown area,” Taleb said. “We will not end the protest later in the day. We will close the roads until the Cabinet brings back our sons.”
“I think we might erect tents too.”
The families had been persistent in their protest camp at Riad al-Solh square for several weeks, preventing any car movement in or out of the area.
The Nusra Front and ISIS are still holding at least 26 captive Army soldiers and policemen in Arsal’s outskirts, after three were executed and seven were released.
Out of the 26 families, only around 17 of them are continuously present at the protest and participate in the movement’s actions, according to Taleb.
“The rest show up almost every month, speak to the media and then disappear,” he said.
