BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army has beefed up its positions in and around Arsal and tightened the siege on the Bekaa town’s outskirts in an attempt to cut supply lines to Islamist militants entrenched there, a senior military official said Monday.
“The Army is taking precautionary measures to prevent the infiltration of terrorists inside Arsal following last week’s bombing,” the official told The Daily Star, referring to a roadside blast that targeted a military truck in Arsal last Friday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others.
The official said the military has set up additional checkpoints in and around Arsal in an attempt to stop the infiltration of Islamist militants who are still holding at least 21 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage on the outskirts of the northeastern town.
Stressing that Arsal was not under Army siege, the official said: “The Army is tightening the siege on the outskirts of the town in order to prevent supplies reaching the terrorists.”
He added that the Army Monday pounded militants’ hideouts on Arsal’s outskirts with artillery fire.
Asked to comment on allegations that the Army was arbitrarily arresting Syrians in refugee camps in Arsal in response to the militants’ abduction of the soldiers and policemen, he said: “The Army is arresting only those suspected of belonging to terrorist groups.”
The military’s reinforced measures came amid a standoff in a Qatari-sponsored mediation to secure the release of at least 21 Lebanese soldiers and policemen held captive by ISIS and Nusra Front militants since last month’s deadly clashes with the Lebanese Army in and around Arsal.
Earlier, a security source acquainted with the militants said camps near the new Army checkpoints have been removed and the refugees were told to go, “because the Army wants to avoid infiltration by gunmen.”
“There were just two checkpoints between Labweh and Arsal before Friday’s blast, now there are five,” the source said. “Arsal is now a totally militarized zone.”
Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that the government could not guarantee the safety of the kidnapped soldiers. He assured the soldiers’ families that the government was working hard to secure the release of their loved ones.
“The government did not neglect the file of the hostage soldiers and is deploying all possible efforts to secure their release. But we cannot give firm guarantees to the soldiers’ families because there is no guarantee with terrorism,” Salam told reporters at the Grand Serail before leaving for New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly’s sessions.
Salam said that negotiations with the militants from the Nusra Front and ISIS were ongoing, though “they were disrupted because of the slaying of soldiers and use of blackmail.”
Salam said Lebanon had sought Turkey’s help in the negotiations with the militants, but the latter was preoccupied by working for the release of Turkish hostages who were detained by ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. “Now that they have been freed, we can talk with it [Turkey],” he said.
Nusra Front shot one of its captive soldiers Friday, and two soldiers had earlier been beheaded by ISIS militants. The two groups have threatened to execute more soldiers unless the government meets their demands. The groups are said to be demanding the release of Islamist detainees held in Roumieh Prison.
However, according to Rana Fliti, the wife of captive soldier Ali Bazal, the Nusra Front is not seeking the release of any Roumieh inmates. Fliti, who met some the militants herself Monday, told The Daily Star that Nusra has three demands: The creation of a “humanitarian corridor” that would allow refugees living on the outskirts of Arsal to enter and exit the town freely; the suspension of all crackdowns on Syrian refugees “and the Sunnis of Lebanon;” and the release of those arrested in the wake of the Arsal clashes last month.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Scholars Committee implicitly accused Hezbollah of responsibility for stalling the negotiations with the militants. The committee, which had suspended its mediation efforts with the militants, called on the government to release all Islamist detainees in Roumieh as part of a general amnesty.
Addressing the families of the captured soldiers, Sheikh Malek Jadida, the committee’s head, told a news conference in al-Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood in Beirut: “The solution is neither with the Lebanese government nor with the Qatari government. The solution is with those inside the Cabinet who are obstructing the negotiations.”
In a clear reference to Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to aid President Bashar Assad’s forces, he said: “A political party whose hands have been stained in local and regional blood is dragging the Army into a confrontation with the people.” He called on mosques in all Lebanese provinces to observe next Friday as “No to slaughtering Arsal” day.
Meanwhile, the hostages’ families blocked a vital highway linking Beirut with the Bekaa Valley with burning tires for more than four hours to press for government action to secure the release of their loved ones.
The families and supporters of the captured soldiers said they decided to allow the reopening of the Dahr al-Baidar highway for the sake of the people who were trapped for hours.
“If the hostages’ file is not handled quickly we will cut off roads all over Lebanon, and will not balk at criminal activity,” a spokesman for the families said.
In the area of Qalamoun, in north Lebanon, the main road was also blocked briefly by the hostages’ relatives.
Separately, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah will make a televised address 8:30 pm Tuesday to discuss the “latest political and security developments in Lebanon and the region,” according to a statement released by Hezbollah’s media office Monday. The speech will be broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station.
