Mashnouq: To Discuss with Salam Road Cutoffs Mainly in Dahr al-Baidar

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stressed on Monday that he will discuss with PM Tammam Salam the issue of road blocking mainly that of Dahr al-Baidar emphasizing the necessity to persuade the families to open it, As Safir daily reported.

“It is a priority for us to address the issue of road blocking with persuasion, but if we failed to solve the issue we will discuss other options,” said Mashnouq.

Families of the abducted soldiers in Arsal have been blocking the Dahr al-Baidar road with burning tires and tents set up in the middle of the road for the sixth day in a row.

They vowed to escalate measures if their sons were nor released.

Islamist Jihadists from the Islamist state kidnapped around 30 soldiers in August during fierce clashes with the Lebanese Army in Arsal. They later executed three of them.

According to reports, the abductors demand that Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison are freed in return for the hostages.

“There are no serious results reached regarding the mediation and efforts to release the soldiers from the abductors,” added the Minister.

On the other hand, Mashnouq stated that he will discuss with Hizbullah, the Amal movement, the Free Patriotic Movement and other state components, the issue of setting escapements for Syrian refugees outside Arsal.

He added that practical steps in that regard could take effect in a time lapse of weeks, noting that the location has not been agreed on yet.

On his part, Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas said that he “withdrew a suggestion to set three encampments on the areas that lie between the Syrian and Lebanese borders. It should get a full approval,” he said.

He pointed that the encampments can be set close to the border of the two countries just like Jordan did.

The number of Syrian refugees have crossed one million and a half. The army intensified raids where they reside in different Lebanese areas mainly in Arsal.

As a result calls to push the refugees out of Lebanon spiked, mainly when al-Nusra Front of the Islamist State killed two soldiers.

Derbas had earlier called for setting encampments for Syrian refugees on the Lebanese border in a first step since the Syrian war erupted three years ago.

D.A.

G.K.