Salam Expects Progress in Arsal Hostages Case

There was no progress over the weekend in the case of Lebanese soldiers and policemen taken captive by jihadists in August as Lebanon celebrated Eid al-Adha.

An Nahar daily on Sunday quoted a ministerial source as saying that Prime Minister Tammam Salam was following up the negotiation process with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.

Salam expects progress but does not want to make false promises, the source said.

The newspaper also said that mixed demands were made by the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group, which took the soldiers and police as hostages during gunbattles with the Lebanese army in the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.

The militants executed three of the captives after they pulled out of the town.

According to sources following up the case, some of the jihadists are calling for the release of all the Syrians who were arrested by the army following the Arsal battles.

Other militants are calling for the release of Islamist inmates form Roumieh prison and the reopening of dirt roads on the outskirts of Arsal, the sources told An Nahar.

Their demands came in response to Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's recent statement that the harsh conditions during winter were in favor of Lebanon.

The jihadists, who are located on the outskirts of Arsal on the porous Lebanese-Syrian border, will find greater difficulty in getting their provisions when it starts snowing there.

On Saturday, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi stressed that the case of the captive troops is a “top priority,” and described their abduction as a “black point in the course of the Syrian revolution.”

“The case of the captives is the top priority in Lebanon, at the level of the government, military and security institutions, and all political sectors,” Rifi said as he visited the Qalamun highway to express solidarity with families of captive troops, who have been staging a sit-in there for days now.

There is growing frustration among the relatives of the captives who have been blocking major roads to pressure the Lebanese authorities into exerting stronger efforts to secure the release of their loved ones.