Lebanese politicians assured today that the government continued to prioritize efforts to liberate police and soldiers captured by Syrian Islamists in Arsal remains a priority, although this effort does not contemplate a prisoner exchange, as their families are demanding.
Pressure intensified in recent hours from the relatives of around 24 soldiers captured early August, after it was learned yesterday that the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) had killed a Lebanese citizen identified as Khaled Ghadada.
The murder occurred in Arsal, the village where the civilian was kidnapped one week ago by extremist Sunnis linked to the Lebanese Shiite resistance movement of Hezbollah, and raised fears that those in the hands of ISIS and al-Nusra face the same fate.
The mentioned town bordering Syria in the northeast region of the Bekaa was invaded on August 2 by extremist militants who fought with the Army and National Police Forces for five days, after which they retreated and took with them about 35 prisoners.
The relatives of prisoners warned that Ghadada’s execution was the second of its kind by the ‘takfir’ (Sunni Islamic terrorists) after soldier Ali al-Sayyed’s decapitation on Sunday.
ISIS, known in Arabic as Daesh, and al-Nusra threatened to kill other soldiers if authorities do not release Lebanon Islamists imprisoned in the Roumieh and other prisons.
According to Deputy Ammar Houry of the Future Movement, the cabinet of Prime Minister Tammam Salam will not abandon the case of the soldiers considered here to have been kidnapped, but reiterated the need to handle the matter discreetly, away from the media.
Similar criteria were expressed by the pro-Western lawmaker from the same parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Hajjar, who expressed full confidence in the commitment and support of the state to release the 28 police and military who remain held by the jihadists.