Unprecedented optimism over hostages ordeal
The Daily Star/Jan. 05, 2015
BEIRUT: Officials and the families of the 25 Lebanese captives expressed cautious optimism over the weekend that the five-month-long hostage ordeal may soon be taking a positive turn.
“There is progress in this case, but I will not announce it today, awaiting the final word on it,” Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk told reporters after meeting with Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar at the archdiocese in Ashrafieh Saturday.
“It is clear now that the ongoing negotiations have progressed, they will not fall back and the negotiations are no longer frozen,” Machnouk said, expressing hope that the case would be resolved at the start of this new year.
Spokesperson for the families Hussein Youssef shared the interior minister’s optimism over advancements in the case, pointing to a set of “positive signs” that indicate negotiations have taken a serious turn.
One such sign, according to Youssef, is the fact that the father of one of the kidnapped servicemen met the captives near the northeastern border with Syria last week.
He told The Daily Star Sunday that the move marked the first instance of communication with the Nusra Front after contact had been frozen for about four months.
Last week, Hamza Hommos had a 75-minute meeting with his son on the outskirts of the border town of Arsal, where the captive soldiers and policemen are being held hostage by ISIS and Nusra Front.
According to the spokesperson, the government is in contact with both ISIS and the Nusra Front. Arsal Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti, who was appointed as a mediator by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, is negotiating with ISIS, he said.
As for the Nusra Front, Youssef noted that the crisis cell had tasked “secret and unannounced mediators” to negotiate with the militants.
In another positive sign, Youssef cited reports relayed to the families by mediators and the crisis cell, assuring that negotiations were on the right track.
“There are tangible developments and the Lebanese will be aware of them in a matter of days,” Youssef said.
Though the spokesperson refused to disclose a detailed account of what the progress entailed, he said that “there was a possibility that one of the captives would be freed in a matter of days.”
Fliti did not confirm or deny the spokesperson’s claims when contacted by The Daily Star Sunday.
Fliti has abided by the government’s policy of keeping mum over the case.
The case of the soldiers and policemen held by the Nusra Front and ISIS since August has been shrouded in secrecy for the past week after Prime Minister Tammam Salam criticized media leaks and statements by officials that he said only harmed the negotiations.While the government has only officially tasked head of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim with the case, it has remained open to other self-proclaimed mediators who are in contact with Nusra and ISIS.
The groups, which have so far killed four of their hostages, have demanded the release of Islamist detainees in Lebanese and Syrian prisons in exchange for freeing the 25 servicemen.
The government has not yet officially announced it was accepting a swap deal, but prominent political parties in the Cabinet have supported such a solution to end the five-month crisis.
