Samya KullabGhinwa Obeid| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Last minute demands by the Nusra Front delayed a swap deal to release 16 Lebanese servicemen held by the Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group for over a year, but the General Security said Sunday night that talks to win their freedom have not totally collapsed. Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who was tasked by the government to handle the file, said negotiations were ongoing, despite last minute hitches. The negotiations, he said, “have not failed.”
“We cannot say anything other than the negotiations are ongoing,” he told An-Nahar news website, maintaining the government’s blackout policy over the hostage crisis.
For the family of the servicemen, who staged an open-ended sit in outside the Grand Serail for over a year with the hope of seeing their loved ones alive, the latest snag in the negotiations dealt a heavy blow.
“The families are devastated,” said Hussein Youssef, a spokesperson for the families. “It’s indescribable, the tears and pain we have.”
A deal was reportedly reached for the release of 16 servicemen being held by the Nusra Front in exchange for Islamist detainees in Roumieh prison and women, but at the last minute Nusra added names to the initial list they wanted released.
The original list includes Saja al-Dulaimi, ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Ola al-Okaili, wife of Abu Ali al-Shishani, a Nusra commander who joined ISIS. Both detained in December 2014.
According to MTV, one of Nusra’s new demands included the dropping of legal charges against Arsal Sheikh Mustafa Hujeiri, the link between the government and the militants. Earlier this month, the Military Tribunal sentenced Hujeiri in absentia to a lifetime of hard labor after finding him guilty of harboring links with a terrorist organization, in this case the Nusra Front, with the intention of carrying out attacks in Lebanon.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam canceled his trip to Paris to follow up on the captives’ case. “Amid the developments taking place regarding the release of the servicemen kidnapped by the Nusra Front, Salam has decided to cancel his trip to Paris Monday,” the statement said. Salam was supposed to attend the 21st United Nations Conference of the Parties, or COP21 which aims to unite around 150 nations for a single agreement on tackling climate change.
A potential swap deal has been on the horizon in Lebanon since Friday evening, when the Lebanese government and the Nusra Front appeared to be having heated negotiations to release the Lebanese servicemen, who have been held captive by the group in the outskirts of Arsal for a year and four months.
The Lebanese Army heavily guarded the entrances to Arsal all day Sunday, as a General Security convoy entered the town and later left for reasons that were unclear, a security source told The Daily Star.
A convoy believed to be carrying aid also entered the village but then headed back.
The Nusra Front and ISIS captured 30 servicemen in August 2014 after briefly overrunning Arsal. Four have since been executed. Nusra is holding 16 servicemen. Little is known about the fate of the nine still being held by ISIS, as the government is not in negotiations with them.