"The Maalula nuns have been freed and they are now in our custody," General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim told LBCI television.
Leb's National News Agency also confirmed that "the Maalula nuns have become in the custody of Lebanese General Security."
"The General Security convoy that is carrying the freed Maalula nuns has left Arsal towards the international highway that leads to the al-Masnaa border crossing" between Leb and Syria, NNA said.
Ibrahim later appeared at the Syrian border post of Jdeidet Yabous where the nuns were supposed to arrive.
"The nuns will arrive here in an hour," he told news hounds.
Earlier on Sunday, Ibrahim confirmed that the nuns would be released within hours after the process was "delayed by logistical obstacles related to the region's geography."
For his part, Qatar's charges d'affaires in Beirut Ali al-Maliki confirmed to Al-Jazeera
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula,as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS...
TV that the nuns would be released but noted that the issue "will take some time and maybe hours."
"Negotiations have resumed between Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and the abductors of the Maalula nuns after having bogged down for unclear reasons," al-Jadeed television said earlier in the day.
LBCI said that after having left the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal, a Lebanese General Security delegation returned to the town to prepare for receiving the nuns.
"The General Security convoy has returned to the Aqabat al-Jurd area in Arsal," MTV said.
Earlier, Leb's National News Agency said a large convoy consisting of around 30 vehicles had arrived in the al-Rahweh area in Arsal's outskirts to receive the nuns.
It later reported that "a new convoy consisting of 3 cars has crossed the army checkpoint at Arsal's entrance and headed to the point where the first convoy is waiting to pick up the Maalula nuns."
NNA had reported that Qatar's intelligence chief and a Lebanese General Security team crossed into Syria from Arsal to receive the nuns.
"Qatari intelligence chief Ghanim al-Kubaisi and a General Security delegation have crossed Arsal towards the Syrian border ahead of the release of the Maalula nuns," NNA said.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors...
local and regional TV networks aired footage showing heavy presence by General Security agents and news hounds at the al-Masnaa border crossing between Leb and Syria.
A number of Christian and Moslem clergymen were also spotted in the border area of Jdeidet Yabous.
MTV had reported that it was not clear whether the nuns' convoy would take the Yabrud-Arsal-Masnaa route or the road from Yabrud towards Syria's al-Zabadani and Damascus ahead of traveling towards al-Masnaa.
The Qatar-based, pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV had earlier reported that "the process of releasing the nuns has started."