Will Lebanon swap prisoners with IS, Jabhat al-Nusra?
The families of kidnapped Lebanese soldiers have been calling on the government to agree to a prisoner exchange to secure their relatives’ release, but a number of obstacles stand in the way.
Lebanon is facing difficult times amid the protracted crisis that began on Aug. 2, when militants from the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra kidnapped a number of Lebanese soldiers and members of the Internal Security Forces. Since then, the two organizations have threatened to kill the men if the Lebanese government fails to meet their demands, most notably the release of Sunni Islamist prisoners detained by the Lebanese government in a number of criminal cases. They have already executed three of their hostages, IS beheading two and Jabhat al-Nusra shooting the third.
Exacerbating the situation is the extremist group's ability to play the strings of internal Lebanese sectarianism. This has prompted the families of the kidnapped military personnel, particularly those from the Sunni and Druze sects, to hold sit-ins to block traffic. They are demanding that the government accept the so-called barter principle and release detained Sunni terrorist suspects in exchange for their relatives being held hostage.
The issue, however, is not as simple, with a number of factors preventing such an exchange. First and foremost, some of the main Lebanese actors refuse to allow the state or the government to succumb to submissiveness and give in to the demands of terrorists. If such a deal were to take place, it could threaten all of Lebanon. What would prevent anyone, especially these two organizations, from resorting to more kidnappings whenever they want to impose a condition on the country?
Another practical consideration preventing an exchange is the legal status of the detainees held by Lebanon. They are primarily being confined in Roumieh Prison, 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast of Beirut, in the heart of the Christian region of Mount Lebanon. Shakib Qortbawi, a former justice minister and former chair of the Bar Association, told Al-Monitor that the current legal framework does not allow fulfilling the kidnappers' demands, even if the Lebanese government wanted to do so.
