ISIS commander in charge of hostages expelled: report

BEIRUT: The alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping of the Lebanese servicemen from the northeastern border town of Arsal has been expelled from ISIS, local daily Al-Akhbar said Monday.

Al-Akhbar said it had learned that Abu Talal al-Hamad, ISIS’s commander for Syria’s Qalamoun region, had been expelled from ISIS's ranks.

Citing activists in Qalamoun, the report said ISIS's "caliph," Abu Bakr Baghdadi, would appoint a new commander to take charge of the hostage crisis, possibly a Tunisian.

They tied Hamad’s expulsion to the arrest of Abu Ahmad Joumaa, a prominent Syrian rebel commander apprehended by the Lebanese Army, as well as to avenge the death of Ahmad Taha, better known as Abu Hasan al-Falastini.

Sources told Al-Akhbar that the move would further complicate the hostage crisis.

However, sources close to the Dawn of Islam Brigade played down the report, denying Hamad had been removed.

In comments to Al-Akhbar, they said Hamad had pulled away with members of his group to Homs, their hometown.