IS Threatens to Execute Captive Servicemen, Families Call on Cabinet to Resign if Ordeal Continues
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant threatened on Saturday to execute Lebanese soldiers and policemen in its captivity as the families of abducted servicemen called on the cabinet to resign if it was incapable of ending the kidnapping ordeal.
The families held the government responsible for the execution of policeman Ali Bazzal by al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front on Friday, announcing an open-ended escalation across Lebanon.
They held the sides that rejected a prisoners swap deal with the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group responsible for the “shedding of Bazzal's blood.”
“If the cabinet believes that it's incapable of following up the case then it should step down,” the distressed families told reporters from their protest camp in Beirut's Riad al-Solh square.
They called on the state to reactivate the role played by Health Minister Wael Abou Faour and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, urging Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat to intervene.
Abou Faour continuously headed to the protest camp of the relatives of the captives and persuaded them to open roads, vowing that the state will resolve the hostage crisis.
At noon, the families blocked both lanes of al-Qalamoun highway in the North and Beirut's Saifi area after jihadists, vowing to escalate their measures.
Al-Nusra Front said on Friday night that it had killed al-Bazzal to avenge the arrest of Islamic militants' wives and children.
The soldiers and policemen were abducted by the IS and Nusra Front that briefly overran Arsal in August. Three of the hostages have already been executed.
H.K.
D.A.
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