BEIRUT- Doubts have been cast over claims that at least nine Lebanese servicemen being held hostage by ISIS militants were relocated to the group’s stronghold in Syria, parties involved in the negotiations told The Daily Star. A source in contact with ISIS militants in Qalamoun said the group denied having transferred their Lebanese hostages to Syria’s eastern province of Raqqa. The captive servicemen are still being held in the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Arsal, the source said.
Rumors that a transfer had occurred emerged Tuesday after a report published by Al-Binaa newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, claimed that the hostages had been moved.
In response, Nizam Mogheit, brother of captive serviceman Ibrahim Mogheit, called on authorities to investigate the report and asked the government to acquire a video recording proving the hostages were still being held near Arsal.
Mario Abou Zeid, a researcher with the Carnegie Middle East Center whose work follows militant dynamics in Syria’s Qalamoun area, also said information available indicated that the hostages had not been moved. However, changing ISIS priorities might compel them to transfer their hostages elsewhere, he added.
“All efforts are being made to prevent the transfer; if they reach Raqqa than it will become impossible to liberate them,” he told The Daily Star.
Though the hostages have yet to be moved, there is evidence suggesting that ISIS in the Qalamoun is drawing back to its de facto capital in Syria, according to Abou Zeid.
His research shows that in the past month ISIS fighters have been withdrawing gradually from areas bordering the Lebanese towns of Al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek, to reinforce fronts elsewhere in the militant organization’s self-styled caliphate.
Rumors of the hostages’ transferral to Raqqa were a product of these military rearrangements, Abou Zeid explained. “Sooner or later the hostages will become part of the [transfer] operation.”
For now, ISIS fighters in Qalamoun seem to be facing logistical difficulties, limiting their redeployment to northern Syria. “The biggest challenge is they would have to face Nusra and remnants of the opposition, which would engage with them,” Abou Zeid said.
ISIS is believed to be holding nine of 25 Lebanese servicemen taken hostage by Islamist militants during clashes with the Lebanese Army in Arsal last August. The remaining hostages are held by the Nusra Front.
The jihadi groups originally captured 37 hostages after briefly overrunning Arsal last August. The Nusra Front has since released eight men and executed two. ISIS has beheaded two of its captives.
The Nusra Front, which will likely gain the upper hand in Qalamoun once ISIS withdraws the bulk of its men, might approach the group to hand over their hostages, a tactic it has tried before to simplify the often-fraught negotiations with the Lebanese government.
As of yet, “There is no deal,” Abou Zeid said.
“The concern is if ISIS begins to see their hostages as a liability, they might kill them,” he added.
The relatives of other captives were not convinced that the hostages would be transferred. The logistical difficulties of a transfer operation from the outskirts of Arsal to Raqqa province made the notion of relocation unlikely, Hussein Youssef, a spokesman for the committee representing the families said.
Youssef said officials overseeing the case were also very doubtful of the possibility that the captives were moved. “Nonetheless, the families still call on the government to issue an official response either confirming or denying the rumors,” he said.
Health Minister Wael Abu Faour was the first official to voice his skepticism during a news conference Tuesday, claiming the ministerial committee tasked with the hostage issue was not informed of any transfer operation.
The Daily Star
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