Families of Slain Soldiers Reject Mashnouq's Presence at Funeral
Families of soldiers slain by the Islamic State extremist group said on Wednesday that Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq need not attend the funeral ceremony of their sons on Friday because of positions he made back in 2014, LBCI reported Wednesday.
“We asked the Army Command, the Defense Minister (Yaacoub al-Sarraf) and PM Saad Hariri not to let Mashnouq attend the funeral processions because of his positions in 2014,” families of the soldiers told LBCI.
The minister issued a statement later in the day, clarifying that the families made an incorrect link between the execution of their sons and a major anti-terror operation inside Roumieh Prison's notorious Block B.
He noted that according to "preliminary official investigations," the troops were executed one year after the operation.
"IS religious official Abu Balqis killed the abducted troops two years ago -- one year after the Roumieh Prison operation -- after he came from Raqa for the sole purpose of executing them and preventing negotiations over their fate," said Mashnouq in his statement.
In 2014, riot police banned families of the soldiers from blocking roads in a desperate attempt to pressure the government into unveiling the fate of their sons.
They had called on Mashnouq to resign from his post.
Earlier on Wednesday, Army chief General Jospeh Aoun informed the relatives of the servicemen that DNA tests conducted on the remains of bodies found in Arsal last week match the identities of their sons.
Aoun had met with the families at the Defense Ministry. They had later met with Sarraf and Hariri.
Funerals for the servicemen will be held on Friday.
The government issued Wednesday a memo declaring a day of mourning on Friday for the martyr soldiers.
Thirty servicemen were abducted by al-Nusra Front and the IS organization during clashes with the Lebanese army in the northeastern border town of Arsal in August 2014.
Sixteen held by the Nusra (Jabhat Fateh al-Islam) were freed in December 2015 through a Qatari-mediated deal that also included a prisoner swap to release a number of inmates from Lebanese jails.
The two groups had previously executed four of the hostages.
Nine servicemen remained in the IS captivity until their remains were retrieved during an army battle against the extremists on Lebanon's eastern border last week.
Source: Naharnet
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