Al-Monitor witnessed, by sheer coincidence, a phone call between a Lebanese government official and the mediator in contact with terrorist groups in the rugged mountains of Arsal, at the northeastern Lebanese border.
The call was made in the case of Lebanese soldiers who were kidnapped on Aug. 2, 2014. This call came 36 hours after Lebanese Internal Security Forces stormed the Roumieh central prison near Beirut on Jan. 12, to regain control of the cells of the arrested Islamist extremists and separate them from one other.