Beirut and London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Hezbollah has been obstructing recent efforts to secure the release of 16 Lebanese hostages abducted by the Al-Nusra Front extremist group last August, an informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The source said a number of Arab and regional countries have been negotiating with Al-Nusra to reach the prisoner-swap deal with the extremist group.

The deal would have seen the 16 hostages—who comprise three soldiers and 13 security servicemen—freed in exchange for a sum of 30 million US dollars and the release of five women associated with Al-Nusra currently being held in Lebanese prisons.

The prisoner swap would have taken place over three stages, with the whole process lasting a week in total, the source said.

Despite Al-Nusra agreeing to the offer, the source said the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah put pressure on the Lebanese government headed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam to stop the deal from taking place. Hezbollah insists it is in charge of protecting Lebanon’s borders and believes the 16 hostages should only be freed via its own military efforts.

However, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat via telephone, a Hezbollah source denied the allegations and said the negotiations were solely within the purview of the Lebanese government. The source insisted it was in Hezbollah’s interests that the hostages be released as quickly as possible.

Moreover, the information Hezbollah has received points towards a positive resolution to the crisis within the coming days, the source said, adding that the negotiations with the Al-Nusra Front had now ended.

The 16 hostages were abducted last August when militants from Al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) crossed the border from Syria entering the Lebanese town of Arsal. Dozens of Lebanese soldiers and security servicemen were wounded in the attack and around 30 more were kidnapped, some of whom have been executed.

Negotiations to release the hostages have now been through a number of stages. Initially a deal was worked out to release five people being held on terrorism-related charges in Lebanon’s Roumieh prison for each captive held by Al-Nusra.

A second, alternative proposed deal would have seen the 16 hostages released in return for a total of 16 million dollars and the release of 16 prisoners from the Roumieh prison.

However, the deals involving the exchange of the prisoners from Roumieh fell through due to a number of them fearing extradition to their home countries upon release.

In recent weeks the latest deal involving the 30 million dollar sum and the release of the five female prisoners was proposed. The prisoners include Saja Al-Dulaimi, the former wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi; Jumana Said, a Lebanese woman accused of transporting explosives meant to be used against Hezbollah positions in the country; and three Syrian women associated with Al-Nusra who illegally crossed the border into Lebanon.