Captive Lebanese servicemen delivered to swap meet point

Sixteen Lebanese servicemen captured by Nusra militants on the northeast border more than a year ago were delivered Tuesday to a meeting point to be swapped for prisoners, television footage showed.

The policemen and soldiers arrived on the back of several pickup trucks wearing thick beards but appearing in good condition.

"We came back the same way we went in," one of the soldiers told an MTV television reporter with access to the Arsal outskirt of Wadi Hmeid where the prisoner swap is expected to take place.

He was referring to the August 2014 battle when militants from the Nusra Front and ISIS (Daesh) rounded up 37 Lebanese servicemen, packed them into the backs of pickup trucks and headed east of Arsal.

Since then, eight servicemen have been released and four killed, leaving 25 in captivity. The body of one of the killed soldiers, Mohammad Hamieh, was released earlier Tuesday, signalling the start of the swap deal.

However, the 16 captives remain in Nusra's captivity. One militant told MTV that they will not be released until the arrival of the prisoners who were being held in Lebanon's Roumieh Prison.

The nine servicemen being held by ISIS are not a part of the swap deal.

Footage from MTV showed its correspondent reporting from Wadi Hmeid where several dozen masked militants were standing with rifles, some holding the Nusra Front's black flag, waiting for the hostage deal to take place.

Other militants stood on top of a building with their rifles pointed out as several pickup trucks carrying the 16 captives arrived. The militants could be heard chanting "Allahu Akbar" as they got closer.

Hours earlier, Lebanon's General Security announced that it had received the body of Mohammad Hamieh, who was shot dead by the militants in September 2014, about a month after his capture.

The militants started killing their hostages early on in the hostage crisis to put pressure on the government to trade them for Islamist prisoners.

A General Security convoy headed at dawn to a checkpoint in Wadi Hmeid to receive the body of Hamieh, which was later transferred by the Lebanese Red Cross to the military hospital in Beirut for DNA tests.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who is supervising in person the swap deal, said in comments to NBN that "the first signs of implementing a prisoner swap deal has begun."

"With the first morning hours things are taking the course that we have agreed on," he added.

News first emerged on Friday that a swap deal was imminent. It had appeared that the captives would be freed Sunday after security forces shut down roads in the area and a General Security aid convoy entered Arsal's outskirts.

But it later returned, reportedly after last-minute demands by the Al-Qaeda-linked group prevented the swap from being carried out.

When news broke that Hamieh's body was released, the families of the 16 servicemen held by Nusra were seen singing and chanting from their tent in Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square in Downtown Beirut. Many cried in joy.

Sheikh Mustafa Hujeiri, an Islamist cleric with links to the militants who played a role in the negotiations, was present alongside Nusra in Wadi Hmeid to oversee the deal.

Hujeiri, who was sentenced last month by a military court in abesntia to life in prison for links to Nusra, praised the efforts of Lebanese government negotiators to finalize the deal, in particular Health Minister Wael Abu Faour and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt.

"This is a joyous day for everyone," Hujeiri told MTV.

"I hope security and peace prevail in Lebanon and this would be the end of all troubles," he added.

The family of Hamieh however blame Hujeiri for their son's killing, urging that he be brought to justice.

"If they [let Hujeiri off the hook], then they will be taking this case to a place they don't want," Maarouf Hamieh, the father of the slain soldier, told Al-Jadeed, accusing Hujeiri of bearing full responsibility "for the blood of our son."

"The innocent will not have mercy on him."

But he expressed hope the rest of the soldiers would be released soon.