Hizbullah Urges 'Punishment' for 'Terrorists who Committed Crimes against Servicemen'

Hizbullah on Tuesday congratulated all Lebanese on the release of 16 troops and policemen who were held captive for over a year by the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, while stressing that “those who committed crimes against the servicemen must receive full punishment.”

“We hope the servicemen who are still in captivity will be freed as soon as possible … in order to turn the page on this unpleasant file for good,” the party said in a statement.

Offering condolences to the families of the servicemen who were “martyred at the hands of these takfiri gangs, especially those who died in an ugly way in captivity,” Hizbullah hoped “the terrorists who committed crimes against them will receive full punishment.”

The party also thanked the parties who exerted efforts in the negotiations, “topped by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.”

The 16 hostages – 13 policemen and 3 soldiers -- were freed in a swap deal with al-Nusra that involved the release of more than a dozen Islamist prisoners, including the former wife of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Saja al-Dulaimi.

It also gave al-Nusra several trucks of humanitarian aid.

The prisoner exchange comes 16 months after al-Nusra and IS briefly overran the town of Arsal on Lebanon's eastern border with Syria after clashes with Lebanese troops.

The groups withdrew under a truce deal, but took 30 hostages with them.

Four of the hostages were subsequently executed by the two groups, including Mohammed Hammiya, whose body was turned over to Lebanese authorities on Tuesday morning in the first stage of the deal.

Y.R.