Lebanon: Suspected Remains of Soldiers Held By Daesh Located
Local Editor
The head of Lebanon's General Security Agency said eight Lebanese soldiers who had been in captivity of Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Takfiri terrorist ‘ISIS/ISIL' group] since 2014 are almost certainly dead.
Brigadier General Abbas Ibrahim briefed reporters on Sunday that the army had retrieved the remains of six soldiers so far and was digging for the other two.
He further noted that the DNA testing would be carried out to determine the identities of the remains.
"We have removed the remains of six bodies. We are expecting the number to go up to eight," Ibrahim said, adding, "We believe that these remains belong to the soldiers."
The Lebanese army earlier announced a ceasefire in its operation against Daesh terrorists near the country's border with Syria to help start negotiations over the fate of the captive soldiers.
The ceasefire went into effect at 7:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, a week into the offensive.
In parallel, Hezbollah and the Syrian army also announced a ceasefire in their offensive against Daesh on the Syrian side, namely the west mountainous region of Qalamoun.
The Lebanese soldiers were among 30 troops and police kidnapped by Daesh and terrorists linked to al-Nusra Front, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, in August 2014 when they briefly overran the Lebanese border town of Arsal.
Four were martyred by their captors and a fifth succumbed to his wounds while 16 were released in a prisoner swap in December 2015.
The terrorist group currently holds nine Lebanese soldiers but on Sunday Ibrahim only spoke of eight bodies.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese army announced it has captured most of a mountainous area on the border with Syria during an operation aimed at purging the region of Daesh terrorists.
Backed by Hezbollah, the army on August 19 began a long-anticipated operation in Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa outskirts on Lebanon's eastern border. The push is meant to clear an area of 120 kilometers from elements of Daesh.
The army operation came shortly after Hezbollah launched its own battle in Arsal outskirts, inflicting huge losses on terrorists linked to al-Nusra Front.
Al-Nusra admitted defeat after six days of fierce fighting and handed over five Hezbollah fighters in return for evacuation of its members to a region in neighboring Syria.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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