Report: Hostages Ordeal to End in 'Days' as Negotiations Progress with Kidnappers
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim reportedly carried out positive discussions with officials in Turkey, which could lead to a breakthrough to the six-month hostage crisis, as sources said that the case could end in days.
According to An Nahar newspaper, the Islamist abductors agreed to release the kidnapped servicemen on two or three batches after the cabinet expressed leniency towards the release of Islamist inmates from Lebanese prisons, adding that the jihadists demanded a ransom to kickstart the prisoners swap deal.
Sources told the newspaper that the inmates' release from Lebanese prisons will be deported to Ankara.
Media reports had said that Qatar's mediation to release the servicemen abducted by Islamist gunmen have intensified in recent days as Ibrahim recently expressed his satisfaction with the course of the negotiations.
A number of soldiers and policemen were abducted by al-Nusra Front and Islamic State group gunmen in the wake of clashes in the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.
A few of them have since been released, four were executed, and the rest remain held.
The captors have been demanding the release of Islamists held in Lebanon as a condition to set them free.
An informed source told An Nahar that negotiations with the IS have reached a deadlock, while the mediation with al-Nusra Front is advancing.
“Negotiations are on the right track,” the source noted.
The daily quoted other sources as saying: “The prisoners swap is inevitable,” criticizing “media speculation that is inaccurate and wrecking the negotiations.”
H.K.
G.K.
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