Negotiations regarding a prisoners swap deal between the Lebanese state and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front reached the final stages as discussions are currently focusing on the timing and the place of the release.

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted a concerned source as saying that the exchange of captives and prisoners could be either carried out in Turkey or on the outskirts of Lebanon's Eastern Mountain range.

The source said that Lebanon would have to release three convicted inmates in exchange for each serviceman taken hostage by al-Nusra.

Al-Nusra Front has in its captivity 16 soldiers and policemen, while nine remain held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

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