An agreement may soon be brokered between the Nusra Front and Lebanon, a senior security source said Tuesday, as the top official tasked with representing the government in negotiations returns after meeting with mediators in Turkey. “The negotiations will end soon,” the source said.
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim held fruitful talks with Turkish and Qatari mediators, the source said, and signs suggest an agreement is in the works for the hostage crisis, now in its ninth month, that could see all the servicemen in the custody of the Nusra Front freed.
The nine hostages believed to be held by ISIS (Daesh) are reportedly not party to the negotiations. In total there are 25 Lebanese servicemen being held by the two groups.
The sources credited Ibrahim for the progress made in secret negotiations to free the servicemen, who were captured in August last year when the jihadi groups briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal and clashed with the Lebanese Army. Since that time many local mediators with militant contacts stepped forward to act as mediators, mostly to no avail.
This year the government imposed a total media blackout to preserve the integrity of the talks.
Ibrahim will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri to brief him about the outcome of discussions with the mediators. The security chief will also brief members of Lebanon’s Crisis Cell, which will be meeting Wednesday in the Grand Serail, headed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam about the outcome of the talks.
Ibrahim is expected to present the developments of the negotiations with Nusra, including the key agreements of the talks.
The Lebanese government will either accept the tentative bargain or request amendments.
The sources did not comment on what Nusra’s demands entailed, specifically whether the militant group was asking for a financial sum for its hostages.
The sources confirmed that Nusra had given mediators a list of prisoners in Lebanese jails it wanted released in a swap deal for the hostages. The source refused to identify the individuals the militant group wanted freed.
In recent weeks, the families of the captive men have renewed protests to pressure the government to expedite negotiations to free their loved ones, after growing frustrated over the government’s policy of discretion in the case.
Hussein Youssef, the spokesperson for the families whose son is being held by ISIS militants, said he had not received formal updates from the government in recent days.
“We think, as parents, that good things are on the horizon,” he told The Daily Star, citing media reports that negotiations were on the right track. “We haven’t received any formal updates about the file from any officials so far, but things are hopefully going in the right direction.”
Youssef said that, for now, the parents of the captives did not have plans to further escalate protests, “since we are hearing positive things,” he said.
“We are in a state of anticipation, waiting for now.”
By Hasan Lakkis, with additional reporting by Samya Kullab
