Evacuation of Nusra Militants, Families Postponed to Tuesday

The second round of an exchange between Lebanon's Hizbullah and Syria's former al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front has been postponed to Tuesday due to "logistical problems," TV networks said on Monday.

The process was supposed to begin with the evacuation of Nusra's militants and their families from the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Arsal to north Syria.

Reports said the registration of thousands of Syrians who want to return home was taking longer than expected.

MTV meanwhile said the process was suspended after al-Nusra "insisted on taking the three captives who are in its custody in Arsal's outskirts to areas inside Syria in order to release them there."

Hizbullah and the Lebanese negotiator, General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, "have rejected this condition, with Maj. Gen. Ibrahim telling Nusra that it is prohibited for the convoys to head to Syria while Hizbullah's captives are still in its custody," the TV network added.

According to MTV, al-Nusra has also asked for "the release of Roumieh Prison inmates, a demand that has been rejected by Lebanese authorities" seeing as "some of the prisoners were involved in acts of terror."

Scores of buses and ambulances had arrived earlier in the day at the Lebanon-Syria border for the evacuation process.

The second round is planned to have about 9,000 Syrians, including hundreds of Nusra fighters, resettle in their home country of Syria, mainly in Nusra's bastion Idlib.

In exchange, eight Hizbullah fighters held by Nusra will be returned home – five from northern Syria and three from the outskirts of Lebanon's Arsal.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media released video and photos of the buses and ambulances in Arsal and the Syrian village of Flita preparing for the evacuations.

The second round comes a day after the two groups exchanged the bodies of their dead fighters as part of an agreement to restore order to the Lebanese-Syrian border region.

Buses are expected to head from Arsal's outskirts to Flita and then to the Homs international highway en route to Aleppo.

Syrian Red Crescent ambulances will escort the buses, according to Hizbullah's “War Media” outlet.

LBCI television said “Hizbullah will safeguard the route that the convoys will take.” But Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) meanwhile said the exchange process had been hampered by the need to “fully secure the route of the buses that will carry the refugees to Idlib.”

A military source later told LBCI that “the buses have gathered under the army's supervision at the Wadi Hmayyed crossing but any transfer of refugees and militants will not take place today.”

Also to be evacuated are members of the Saraya Ahl al-Sham rebel group whose members did not take part in last week's battles. Those fighters will head to the government-held town of Ruhaiba, about 50 kilometers northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus where they will benefit from an amnesty by the regime and return to normal life, according to Hizbullah's al-Manar TV.

The exchange and evacuation deal followed a military offensive by Hizbullah fighters and Syrian troops during which they captured border areas between the two countries and left hundreds of Nusra fighters besieged in a small rugged mountainous area.

The fighting ended with a ceasefire on Thursday.