BEIRUT: The families of two kidnapped Lebanese servicemen visited their sons Wednesday on Lebanon's northeastern border where they are being held by jihadis.
The families of Maher Fayyad and Pierre Geagea traveled to the outskirts of the town of Arsal, almost one week after the family of kidnapped soldier Abdel-Rahim Diab made the same visit, according to Hussein Youssef, the spokesman for the hostages' families.
Geagea and Fayyad are two of 25 Lebanese servicemen still held hostage by ISIS and the Nusra Front on the outskirts of Arsal since August.
More than 30 soldiers and police were abducted by the militants during a five-day battle with the Army in Arsal in August. Eight hostages have since been released and four killed.
According to Youssef, the families have yet to return from the outskirts.
Meanwhile, the head of the committee representing the hostage families, Sheikh Omar Haidar, was stuck in the outskirts of Hermel after his car was buried in snow. Military intelligence was able to determine Haidar’s whereabouts and later dispatched a patrol that rescued him.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam led Wednesday a meeting for the committee tasked with overseeing the hostage crisis. Convened in the Grand Serial, the meeting was attended by Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, and Secretary-General of the Higher Relief Committee Maj. Gen. Mohammad Khair.
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