'Slow Pace' of Hostage Talks as Ibrahim Urges Palestinians to Ban Outlaws from Ain el-Hilweh

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim lamented that the negotiations on the release of the Lebanese hostages was going in a slow pace and stressed the necessity to stop terrorists from hiding in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh.

“The problem of the captives does not require consensus, which we already have. It requires agreement on several issues and many of them are on the right track,” Ibrahim told al-Akhbar daily in an interview published on Thursday.

But he expressed regret that the negotiations aimed at releasing the captive soldiers and policemen are “slow.”

The weather and the difficult terrain are hindering mediators from heading to the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal to talk to the militants who kidnapped them, Ibrahim said.

Fighters from the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group took the soldiers and police hostage when they overran Arsal in August last year and engaged in heavy battles with the military.

“The negotiations can't be carried out by telephone. They are done through envoys,” Ibrahim told al-Akhbar.

The General Security chief stressed that Prime Minister Tammam Salam and the government have tasked him with negotiating the release of the captives.

But said: “There are a lot of envoys … We talk with some of them.”

He added that there is a serious envoy “who is so far able to carry out his mission.” However, the results of his task “depend on the development in the negotiation process.”

Asked whether he had fears on the lives of the captives, Ibrahim said: “They are definitely in danger” after some of the previous threats of the hostage-takers were implemented.

“There are no guarantees” that they would not kill more hostages after four of them were executed, said Ibrahim.

He stressed, however, that the Lebanese authorities are willing to engage in a legal prisoner exchange.

The militants have made many demands, including the release of Islamists from Roumieh prison.

Although Ibrahim refused to give more details on the negotiation process, by only saying there are “positive signs,” al-Mustaqbal daily quoted official sources as saying that there has been a “tangible progress.”

Several envoys are informing Ibrahim about the demands of the militants and he is in his turn transferring the information to the so-called crisis cell made up of cabinet ministers and security officials, said the sources.

Turning to the rising threat of terrorism, Ibrahim accused the residents of Ain el-Hilweh that lies near the southern city of Sidon of turning the shantytown into a safe haven for outlaws.

If the Palestinians “can't hand them over to the (Lebanese) authorities … then at least they could stop them from seeking refuge in the the camp and turning it into their hiding place,” said Ibrahim

“I know that they have the ability to prevent them (the outlaws) from entering” Ain el-Hilweh, he added.

Several terrorists wanted for involvement in confrontations with the Lebanese army are hiding in the camp.

G.K.

H.K.