BEIRUT: Although Prime Minister Tammam Salam assured the Cabinet Thursday that mediation efforts to free the 27 Lebanese hostages were making progress, a source close to the militants said the negotiations had taken “a very negative turn” in the past few days.
The hostage crisis dominated discussions during the Cabinet’s weekly session, and Salam told ministers negotiations to secure the release of the servicemen held hostage by ISIS and Nusra Front militants were continuing to make progress, political sources told The Daily Star.
Salam dismissed media reports that the negotiations had taken a turn for the worse.
He told ministers that Secretary-General of the Higher Relief Committee Maj. Gen. Mohammad Kheir was updating the families of the hostages on a daily basis.
However, a source close to the militants said negotiations to free the hostages had taken “a very negative turn” in the last six days, blaming the lack of a unified Cabinet stance.
ISIS has placed the hostage crisis under the Nusra Front’s control so the two groups would have a unified set of demands, which, if met, would secure the release of all the hostages, the source told The Daily Star. The nine hostages currently held by ISIS would be transferred to the Nusra Front when their requests are met.
“ISIS is backing the Nusra Front in negotiations. There is a de facto agreement between the two.”
The Qatari delegation overseeing the talks has been negotiating with militants through a Syrian mediator who is working on its behalf. A meeting between the Syrian mediator and the militants takes place at least once a week on Arsal’s outskirts, with the next meeting scheduled in the coming two days, the source said.
The mediator has established a good working relationship with the Nusra Front which, according to the source, has delivered a clear set of demands that includes the release of Islamist inmates in Roumieh Prison.
Despite that relationship, the Syrian mediator is receiving mixed messages from Beirut, which is hindering his ability to communicate a clear stand. “The absence of a unified official stance is causing confusion for the Syrian businessman, who is lost over what message to relay to the militants,” the source said.
The families of the hostages released two statements Thursday, the first threatening that “tomorrow will be a black Friday in Beirut if no positive developments occur in the issue of our sons.” Later, in a statement released after meeting Kheir, the families said they would hold off escalating their protests after recognizing the government’s efforts to secure the release of their loved ones.
During the Cabinet session, a spat erupted over spending between Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Zeaiter and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, prompting Salam to intervene, political sources said. The row was related to the amount of money to be invested in regions where MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement enjoys wide support.
The session, which lasted more than five hours, failed to reach a decision over several items on the agenda, including renewing the tender for Sukleen and Lebanon’s two major mobile operators touch and Alfa.
