The Lebanese Army Command said Tuesday (September 5th) the official results of DNA tests conducted to determine whether nine bodies found near the border belong to Lebanese troops abducted and killed by the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) will be released at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Naharnet reported.
Eight bodies, believed to be those of servicemen abducted in Arsal in 2014, were recovered August 27th, while the body of a ninth soldier was located Tuesday.
ISIS provided information about the burial site as part of a Hizbullah-brokered deal, under which the group would be allowed to withdraw to eastern Syria.
The deal, brokered with the support of the Syrian regime, has been fiercely criticised by coalition forces and the Iraqi government.
The coalition has pounded the road to Deir Ezzor with airstrikes to prevent the convoy reaching the ISIS-held town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, effectively stranding most of the convoy's 17 buses in the Syrian desert.
The convoy left the Lebanon-Syria border region on Monday, but Hizbullah said six of the buses remained in Syrian regime-held territory.
In a statement overnight, the coalition said it had sent a message to Damascus through Syria's ally Russia to say that "the coalition will not condone ISIS fighters moving further east to the Iraqi border”.
"The coalition values human life and has offered suggestions on a course of action to save the women and children from any further suffering as a result of the Syrian regime's agreement," it added, without providing further details.
