Report: Qatar Promised Ibrahim to Revive Hostages File
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has returned from Doha with pledges to revive the prisoner exchange deal between the Lebanese authorities and jihadists who have taken Lebanese servicemen captive, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Thursday.
Ibrahim, who is the official Lebanese negotiator in the case of the troops and policemen, returned to Beirut on Wednesday after a two-day visit to Qatar.
Al-Joumhouria said that Ibrahim asked the Qatari officials to revive the file of the servicemen who were taken hostage by al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and Islamic State group militants in August last year.
The General Security chief inquired the officials on al-Nusra Front's freeze of the prisoner exchange.
Recent reports have said that the extremist group was ready for the swap which was mediated by an envoy from Qatar.
The deal included the release of 16 soldiers and policemen taken by al-Nusra Front from the northeastern border town of Arsal last August in return for setting free Islamists from Lebanon's notorious main prison of Roumieh.
But al-Joumhouria said that the Qatari officials promised Ibrahim to revive the file immediately after the Eid al-Fitr holidays.
The IS has also taken servicemen as hostages but the negotiations with the extremist group have reached a standstill over its crippling demands.
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