Report: Ibrahim Satisfied with Course of Negotiations over Arsal Captives

Qatar's mediation to release the servicemen abducted by Islamist gunmen have intensified in recent days, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Saturday.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim has meanwhile expressed his satisfaction with the course of the negotiations, official sources told the daily.

They added that his trip to the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday to meet Qatari intelligence chief Ghanim al-Kubaisi is part of an agreement struck in Doha on Tuesday over the need to continue and revitalize consultations between Lebanon and the Gulf state.

The sources said that the chances of resolving the case of the Arsal captives may follow the scenario of the Lebanese hostages that had been held in Syria's Azaz region in 2012 and 2013.

“The Qatari officials believe that Ibrahim can be trusted and is up to the task to handle the case,” they told al-Mustaqbal.

They explained that he is “the only official side tasked by the Lebanese state to resolve the affair seeing as he has previous experience in hostage cases, such as the Azaz issue.”

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 are demanding the release of Islamists held in Lebanon as a condition for their release.

M.T.

D.A.