Gen. Abbas Ibrahim announced that negotiations with the servicemen kidnappers reached an extent where it’s no longer possible to respond to their unfeasible demands which they set in the last minute.

Lebanese Director-General of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim announced that negotiations with the servicemen kidnappers reached an extent where it’s no longer possible to respond to their unfeasible demands which they set in the last minute.

In a press interview on Monday, Ibrahim said the deal did not fail and that the negotiations are still ongoing. He vowed that attempts and striving to free the servicemen will continue in spite of the ‘blackmail policy’, adding that “tough negotiations with the kidnappers did not deviate from the negotiation path since a year.”

Ibrahim, who was tasked by the government to handle the file, told An-Nahar news website that negotiations were ongoing, despite last minute hitches. “We cannot say anything other than ‘the negotiations are ongoing’,” he said, maintaining the government’s blackout policy over the hostage crisis.

A deal was reportedly reached for the release of 16 servicemen being held by Al-Nusra Front in exchange for terrorists detained in Roumieh prison and women, but at the last minute the Front added names to the initial list.

A potential swap deal has been looming in Lebanon since Friday evening, when the Lebanese government and Al-Nusra Front appeared to be having heated negotiations to release the Lebanese servicemen, who have been held captive by the group in the outskirts of Arsal for a year and four months.