The angry protesters called on the government to take quick steps and help set the soldiers abducted by Takfiri militants free.

“We came to let our government hear or voice,” a Lebanese protester said, adding that the government is responsible to “protect its people and army.”

Lebanese officials, however, are calling on the people to control their anger and not allow the militants to ruin the stability of the country.

“We should know the sedition that terrorists seek could be taken advantage of by ignorant individuals… it is the way to ruin our national peace,” Tamam Salam, the Lebanese prime minister, said.

The protest comes after the emergence of photographs allegedly showing decapitation of a Lebanese soldier by the ISIL terrorists.

"The army has received the images, but we cannot confirm or deny whether they are authentic," a Lebanese military source said on Saturday.
Last week, the army said that DNA tests confirmed that a beheaded corpse, handed over to military officials after negotiations, belonged to Sergeant Ali Sayid.

Sayid, 29, went missing after the Takfiris captured the border town of Arsal by launching an attack from inside Syria in August.

More soldiers of the Lebanese army and police are yet held captive by the ISIL militants.

Violence erupted in eastern Lebanon on August 2 after soldiers arrested a Syrian man who the army said confessed to belonging to the ISIL. Angered by the arrest, the Takfiri militants opened fire on army checkpoints and stormed a police station in a border area.

Following truce negotiations with the ISIL militants, they agreed to retreat from the town and freed some prisoners.

The Takfiri militants had reportedly infiltrated into Lebanon from Syria’s mountainous al-Qalamoun region.

BA/BA