Newly appointed Army Commander General Joseph Aoun stressed his adamant will to uncover the fate of the Lebanese abducted servicemen regardless what their fate turns out to be, as he said his focus will concentrate on distancing the army from political interference.
“The file has been an obsession for me even before taking responsibility (as army commander), I want to close this file whether the servicemen are alive or martyrs,” he told al-Akhbar daily in an interview on Monday.
“It's a mission that must be accomplished. I will hold contacts with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to complete this file. This is a wound that must be closed, knowing there isn't an honest mediator right now between the Army and the abductors,” he added.
The IS group and al-Nusra Front, which re-branded itself as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in July when it split from the al-Qaida movement, abducted over 30 servicemen in clashes with the Lebanese army in the northeastern border town of Arsal in August 2014.