Relatives of Lebanese soldiers, who were captured by Islamist militants in Arsal, sit near a vehicle with a banner of soldier Ali al-Bazzal, during a protest demanding the release of soldiers and pressuring the government to act, as families block the North entrance of downtown Beirut December 6, 2014. Syria’s al Qaeda offshoot Nusra said on Friday it killed captive Lebanese soldier al-Bazzal in retaliation for the arrest by Lebanese authorities of women identified as wives of Islamist militants. Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

 

Relatives of Lebanese soldiers, who were captured by Islamist militants in Arsal, protest demanding the release of the remaining soldiers and pressuring the government to act, as families block a road in Saifi village in Beirut December 6, 2014. Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists

 

Families of Lebanese soldiers who were kidnapped by Islamic militants, block a main road during a protest after an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria says it has killed a kidnapped soldier Ali Bazzal, seen in poster with his daughter, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. The Nusra Front group said it shot dead Ali Bazzal, one of the Lebanese soldiers that was kidnapped by the group on Friday night in retaliation for the Lebanese government’s detention of the wives and children of militants. The Nusra Front and the Islamic State group have been holding more than 20 Lebanese soldiers and policemen since August. They have so far killed four of them. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

 

Residents burn tyres as they block Qalamoun international highway in Tripoli December 6, 2014. Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. One leading Sunni militant, Abu Ali al-Shishani, has pledged to attack Lebanese women and children and end talks to free the soldiers, after his wife was detained by authorities. REUTERS/Stringer (LEBANON – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

 

Afnan Al-Hassan, 16, the sister of Lebanese soldier Khaled al-Hassan, who was kidnapped by Islamic militants, weeps as she sits in the middle of a main road during a protest after an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria said it has killed a kidnapped Lebanese soldier, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. The Nusra Front group said it shot dead Ali Bazzal one of the Lebanese soldier that was kidnapped by the group on Friday night in retaliation for the Lebanese government’s detention of the wives and children of militants. The Nusra Front and the Islamic State group have been holding more than 20 Lebanese soldiers and policemen since August. They have so far killed four of them.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

 

Mother of Lebanese soldier Lameh Muzahim, who was kidnapped by militants, pray in front of his photo placed on a protest tent in front the government palace in down town Beirut, Lebanon, 06 December 2014. Media reports state al-Nusra Front announced on 05 December it had shot dead detained Lebanese soldier Ali Bazzal to avenge the arrest of two women, one of whom was identified as the divorcee of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The purported killing of al-Bazzal has sparked anger among families of some 27 soldiers and policemen taken hostage by al-Nusra and Islamic State since August. (Protestas, Líbano) EFE/EPA/NABIL MOUNZER

 

A Lebanese journalist speaks on his phone in front a big poster, center, showing one of the Lebanese soldiers, who was kidnapped by Islamic militants, carrying his daughter, which is set by his family over a tent that they set up for an open sit-in in front of the government palace, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, late Friday, Dec. 5, 2014.

 

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Families of Lebanese soldiers held by militants blocked roads in Beirut and highways between major cities on Saturday, pressing the government to do more to free them.

More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. One leading Sunni militant, Abu Ali al-Shishani, has pledged to attack Lebanese women and children and end talks to free the soldiers, after his wife was detained by authorities.

The threat, delivered in a video distributed on jihadist websites, was published on Friday hours before the group said it had killed one of the Lebanese soldiers it holds.

Lebanese authorities earlier this week said they had detained a wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The wife of Shishani has also been arrested.

Officials say Shishani is a fighter in the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official Syrian wing. But in the video he praises Baghdadi, whose Islamic State splintered off from al Qaeda. Islamic State and Nusra have both clashed and worked closely with each other at different times.

 

 

The women were apparently viewed by some Lebanese security elements as a possible bargaining chip with the militants to gain the release of the captive soldiers.

Sitting in front of a black flag with two militants by his side, Shishani said Shi’ite Muslim women and children and families of Lebanese soldiers were now legitimate targets.

"My wife, Ola Mithqal al Oqaily … was taken two days ago from Tripoli, the city that is called the city of Islam and Muslims," Shishani said.

"If my wife is not released soon, do not dare to dream about the release of the soldiers without negotiations.

"All your wives, children and men are legitimate targets now," he said, using the phrase "slaves of (late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini" to refer to Shi’ites.

Many Sunni Syrian rebels and hardline Lebanese Sunni Islamists accuse Lebanon’s army of working with the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah which has sent fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Shi’ite-derived Alawite minority.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Ali Abdelatty in Cairo, Editing by Louise Heavens and Stephen Powell)