Slain Troops' Families Say DNA Result Tuesday, Urge Omar Miqati Execution

The official results of DNA tests conducted to determine whether nine bodies found near the eastern border belong to Lebanese troops abducted and killed by the Islamic State group will be released on Tuesday, the soldiers’ families said.

“The tests took some time due to scientific and medical reasons,” the relatives told al-Hayat newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

A ministerial source meanwhile told the daily that by Saturday, “the bodies of seven out of nine soldiers had been identified.”

Eight bodies had been recovered last Sunday while the body of a ninth soldier was located on Tuesday as part of a Hizbullah-led deal with IS. The jihadist group offered the information about the troops’ burial site in return for being allowed to withdraw to eastern Syria.

Hussein Youssef, the father of slain soldier Mohammed, demanded “accountability for every person who took part in the kidnap operation and for anyone who decided not to liberate our sons the moment they were captured or shortly afterwards.”

Youssef also demanded “the execution of the detainee Omar Miqati, who filmed the crimes of the execution of the martyr soldiers Ali al-Sayyed and Abbas Medlej.”

Miqati has been described as a senior IS official.