BEIRUT: Positive signs on the Lebanese hostage crisis have emerged recently, General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said in remarks published Thursday.
Ibrahim, however, said negotiations have been slow, owing to the split between the two groups holding 25 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage since early August.
“What concerns me is the competition between the kidnappers themselves,” Ibrahim told local daily Al-Akhbar.
Islamist jidahi groups ISIS and Nusra Front captured at least 30 servicemen during a five-day battle with the Lebanese Army in the northeastern border town of Arsal in August. Eight hostages have since been released and four killed.
Ibrahim said he was ready for a swap deal “but only under the roof of the law.”
Among the captors’ demands is the release of Islamist prisoners held at Lebanon’s notorious Roumieh prison.
“It seems that there are positive signs on the part of the kidnappers to end the crisis,” Ibrahim said. “We are working on conditions and counter-conditions and we hope we reach a happy ending.”
