BEIRUT, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The second round of an exchange between Hezbollah and al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front has been postponed to Tuesday due to "logistical problems," the local LBCI TV reported Monday.
The process was supposed to begin with the evacuation of al- Nusra's militants and their families from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal to north Syria.
The TV report said that the registration of thousands of Syrians who want to return home was taking longer than expected.
It also said the process was suspended after al-Nusra "insisted on taking the three captives who are in its custody in Arsal's outskirts to areas inside Syria in order to release them there."
Hezbollah and the Lebanese General Security chief Maj. General Abbas Ibrahim "have rejected this condition, with telling al-Nusra that it is prohibited for the convoys to head to Syria while Hezbollah's captives are still in its custody," the report added.
According to LBCI TV, al-Nusra has also asked for "the release of Roumieh Prison inmates, a demand that has been rejected by Lebanese authorities," as "some of the prisoners were involved in acts of terror."
The second round is planned to have about 9,000 Syrians, including hundreds of al-Nusra fighters, resettle in their home country of Syria, mainly in al-Nusra's bastion Idlib.
In exchange, eight Hezbollah fighters held by al-Nusra will be returned.
The second round comes a day after the two groups exchanged the bodies of their dead fighters as part of an agreement to restore order to the Lebanese-Syrian border region.
The exchange and evacuation deal followed a military offensive by Hezbollah and Syrian troops, during which they captured border areas between the two countries and left hundreds of al-Nusra fighters besieged in a small rugged mountainous area.
The fighting ended with a cease-fire on Thursday.
