Ibrahim Visits Nasrallah, Tackle Arsal Hostages File

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim held a meeting on Friday with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in light of the latest “negligence” accusations fired at Ibrahim by families of the Arsal abducted servicemen.

The relatives of the servicemen held a sit-in and blocked the road on Friday near the Interior Ministry demanding the resumption of efforts to free their sons which they said have been stalled lately, accusing Ibrahim and Speaker Nabih Berri of “negligence.”

On the reasons stalling the negotiations to free the servicemen that have been in captivity for over 14 months now, Ibrahim said: “Secrecy in negotiations is the key to success. I can say that the responsibility here does not lie on the Lebanese state but on the kidnappers who have special circumstances and an agenda of their own.”

“Similar abductions have taken much longer time to be resolved,” he noted.

“The Lebanese state has accepted the principle of exchange and done everything possible to free the servicemen. But the kidnappers are not ready (to free the servicemen).”

He concluded saying: “During out latest visit to Doha we have suggested a number of additional solutions that we hope would push things forward, but we are still waiting answers from al-Nusra Front through the brethren Qataris.”

The servicemen were taken hostage by the al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State extremist group in August 2014 when they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal.

A few of them have since been released and four were executed.

Al-Nusra Front has in its captivity 16 soldiers and policemen, while nine remain held by the IS.

Negotiations with the jihadists have stalled over their crippling demands.