Lebanon finds suspected remains of soldiers held by Daesh

Lebanese authorities on Sunday located the remains of eight people they believe to be soldiers kidnapped three years ago by the Daesh along the restive eastern border with Syria.

The announcement came hours after the army declared a pause in its nine-day assault on Daesh in exchange for information on the missing soldiers. 

Head of the General Security agency Major General Abbas Ibrahim said Daesh militants who had surrendered led his agency and the Lebanese army to the remains. 

"We have removed the remains of six bodies. We are expecting the number to go up to eight," he told reporters gathered in downtown Beirut.

"We believe that these remains belong to the soldiers."

The army later released a statement saying the remains of eight bodies had been retrieved from the Jurud Arsal mountainous border area with Syria and taken to a military hospital for DNA testing.

The troops were among 30 soldiers and police kidnapped by Daesh and Al Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate when they overran the Lebanese border town of Arsal in August 2014.

Four were killed by their captors and a fifth died of his wounds while 16 were released in a prisoner swap in December 2015 that was also overseen by Ibrahim.