Lebanese halt attack on IS over hostages

LEBANON’S army yesterday announced a pause in its offensive against Islamic State militants along its Syrian border in exchange for information on troops taken hostage in 2014.

The armed forces launched their campaign against IS militants entrenched in the mountainous areas on Lebanon’s eastern border on August 19.

“T h e a r my command announces a ceasefire beginning at 7am [0400 GMT] to make way for the last phase of negotiations linked to the fate of the kidnapped soldiers,” it said in a statement yesterday.

Nine troops are believed to still be held by IS after militants overran the border town of Arsal in August 2014 and kidnapped 30 soldiers and police.

The army has said the missing troops were its “top concern” in its offensive against an estimated 600 fighters using the hilly border region as a base.

An army source said its command had agreed to IS’s request for a ceasefire in order to get more information on the missing soldiers.

The head of Lebanon’s General Security agency “Abbas Ibrahim has been authorised to negotiate with them for information on the kidnapped soldiers”, the source said. “In the meantime, the battle has stopped. If we find any ulterior motives or if we are dissatisfied with the solution, the army will continue its fight,” the source added.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah also declared a ceasefire yesterday. Two sources with close knowledge of Hezbollah’s operations in the area said fighters from the group were searching Qalamun for the bodies of missing soldiers.