Mashnouq Says Army Probing IS Beheading Claim, Does Not Rule Out Border Closure

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has revealed that the Lebanese army formed a committee to investigate the jihadists' alleged beheading of a soldier who was taken captive in the northeastern border town of Arsal earlier this month.

Al-Mashnouq told local dailies published on Friday that the committee of experts is probing the images of what appears to be the beheading of the soldier.

An alleged Islamic State militant calling himself Abu Musaab Hafid al-Baghdadi posted on Thursday photos on his Twitter account that show him cutting off the head of a blindfolded man with a medium beard.

He identified the victim as “Ali al-Sayyed, an apostate soldier belonging to the army of the cross.”

Al-Sayyed and several other soldiers and members of the Internal Security Forces members were taken captive by IS and al-Nusra Front jihadists following deadly clashes with the army on August 2.

The militants withdrew from the town after a ceasefire was brokered by Muslim scholars but on Thursday they clashed with the army again.

The military said in a communique that the fighting erupted when an army vehicle with five soldiers on board was ambushed at around 11:00 am.

The army launched a counter-attack in which one of the soldiers was wounded while another went missing, it added.

Family members of several captives blocked on Friday roads in Akkar district, calling for their release.

In his remarks to the newspapers, al-Mashnouq did not rule out the closure of the Lebanese-Syrian border “if the situation threatens national security.”

He warned that any expansion of the Islamic State in Syria would lead to an unprecedented rise in the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Such a status quo would also create a more dangerous security situation, al-Mashnouq said.

He visited Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to discuss with him the "dangerous situation" in Arsal.

The incidents there are a clear sign “there is a time bomb that could explode anytime,” he said.

The conditions in the border town top all other issues, al-Mashnouq added.

G.K.

H.K.