Qatar's Envoy Back in Beirut as Negotiations with Hostage-Takers Enter New Stage
Qatar's mediator, Ahmed al-Khatib, returned to Beirut on Thursday and went into immediate talks with Lebanese officials on the negotiations aimed at securing the release of servicemen taken hostage by jihadists.
Reports said the negotiations have entered a new stage and that al-Khatib, a Syrian, is expected to head to the northeastern border town of Arsal on Friday to follow up the case.
The Lebanese soldiers and policemen were taken captive in August when militants from the extremist Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front infiltrated Arsal from Syria and engaged in bloody clashes with troops.
Lebanon now has the upper hand in the negotiations with the jihadists after the Lebanese army arrested Saja al-Dulaimi, a divorcee of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Even if she's no longer al-Baghdadi's wife, al-Dulaimi could potentially serve as a bargaining chip with the Syria-based militants.
The Lebanese authorities have also detained, separately, the wife of senior Nusra Front leader Anas Sharkas, who is also known as Abu Ali al-Shishani.
The government has been under intense pressure from the families of the captured men to negotiate their release.
Al-Khatib's return to Beirut came two days after Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged the Qatari emir to revive his country's mediation in the negotiations on the hostages.
Salam telephoned Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid al-Thani to urge him to help “end the suffering of the families” of the soldiers and policemen.
The Emir expressed his “great interest in assisting Lebanon and the Lebanese in this ordeal” and informed Salam that he will give “immediate orders” to the officials tasked with dealing with the case to “make the necessary contacts.”
11 years
RIP ..Flamethrower--
11 years
Most impressed, aren't you?
11 years
shame lol
11 years
roro, why you don't post as @wolf anymore? It's ok don't be ashamed, we all know and we enjoy reading your impressive comments.
11 years
With our presidency, everyone is interfering, before that the post of PM that dragged for months on end, now we've this? Here we are talking about the precious lives of our beloved soldiers. Let us stop all this procrastination now, enough with being nice. This is how I would have handled Arsal. Since I'd control all the heights around it, I'd release and send down towards Arsal hundreds of stench laced with mud and swine waste trash, but also with belts of dynamite and explosives towards the ISIL and Nusra terrorists that occupied Arsal at the time. Make them run and blow them to bits. Then about the hostages, just hand the prisoners to the families of our kidnapped soldiers, and leave them do whatever they want, then let's see how quickly these sobs will rush to beg us to treat their people well. We're being too nice, too kind, too sweet with a group of mad and drunken evil terrorists.
11 years
Nope PB, the perfect recipe to deal with the terrorists, only this language will cut it thru with them. Give me the chance to try it on them.
11 years
With our presidency, everyone is interfering, before that the post of PM that dragged for months on end, now we've this? Here we are talking about the precious lives of our beloved soldiers. Let us stop all this procrastination now, enough with being nice. This is how I would have handled Arsal. Since I'd control all the heights around it, I'd release and send down towards Arsal hundreds of stench laced PIGS with mud and swine waste trash, but also with belts of dynamite and explosives towards the ISIL and Nusra terrorists that occupied Arsal at the time. Make them run and blow them to bits. Then about the hostages, just hand the prisoners to the families of our kidnapped soldiers, and leave them do whatever they want, then let's see how quickly these sobs will rush to beg us to treat their people well. We're being too nice, too kind, too sweet with a group of mad and drunken evil terrorists.
11 years
"Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Party have repeatedly rejected any idea of an exchange under the pretext that Syrian militants are responsible for the killing of innocent Lebanese soldiers and are therefore an illegitimate party with which to negotiate. “On one hand, Hezbollah impedes negotiations that involves such swaps,” said Amine. “On the other, it carries out swaps of its own with no clear liaising with Lebanese authorities. Hezbollah was the first [party] to reject the swap — when it’s not a Hezbollah affair — and then the first to accept it when it is.”
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/564459-hezbollah-negotiates-with-terrorists
All roads lead to Doha !