...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
The Lebanese Army, meanwhile, said gunnies kidnapped a soldier from his home in the port city, the second seized in northern Leb since Saturday.
Al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front, which has previously executed one captive Lebanese soldier, issued its threat after troops cleared gunnies from Tripoli's historic bazaar district Saturday in an operation that left one civilian and a Lion of Islam dead.
Many of the gunnies managed to withdraw to the Bab Al-Tebbaneh district of the city, a Sunni Islamist stronghold, where troops were engaged in heavy fighting on Sunday, an AFP correspondent reported.
The army's offensive against the Lion of Islams, who are suspected of having links to Al-Nusra, sparked attacks on troops across the Tripoli region that left six dead.
"We warn the Lebanese Army against any military escalation targeting Sunnis in Tripoli," the Al-Nusra statement said. "We call on it to lift its siege and accept a peaceful solution, or else we will be forced in the coming hours to bring closure to the issue of the soldiers we are holding hostage, given that they are prisoners of war."
The Al-Qaeda affiliate initially threatened to start executing its prisoners from 0800 GMT but then issued a second statement extending the deadline to 1200 GMT.
"At that time the execution can still be postponed or cancelled if the army agrees" to our demands, the later statement said. Al-Nusra and rival gunnies of the IS group captured some 30 Lebanese soldiers and police in fighting around the eastern town of Arsal, close to the Syrian border, in August.
IS has since executed two of its captives.
Al-Nusra has previously demanded that in return for the release of its prisoners, a Lion of Islam group Hezbollah end its intervention in Syria on the side of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's regime and that Leb free incarcerated
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
Lion of Islams.