Tell me Prime Minister, had your son been in the ranks of soldiers kidnapped by ISIS and the Nusra Front, would you have cloaked yourself with nationalism? Would you have read your speech ever so slowly, bragging about the epic victory against terrorists that you dream of?

Had your son appeared in video footage kneeling next to a militant, with a knife to his neck, would you have slept so peacefully awaiting Qatar-brokered negotiations with blood-thirsty executioners holding daggers drenched in death?

Tammam Salam is not the only one to be held accountable…But the state, if existent, and all those politicians who are supposed to protect the country and its residents; they too are accountable.

Had ISIS captured one of their kids, wouldn't they have sat there, sleepless, day in and day out, negotiating and blasting prison doors wide open?

Your statements are disappointing and so are your actions. You blurt out openly against negotiating with terrorists; what's worse is that you arm yourselves with the claim that you refuse to bring the morale of the troops down by negotiating with those who fought against them.

You are right indeed. For when a soldier witnesses his comrade, bowing down and begging for freedom, slaughtered and dredged in his own blood, that's when his morale really goes out the roof.

Is it by watching their comrades' wives become widows and their children orphans that you protect them from low morale?

Has Hezbollah, preoccupied with its battles in Syria and Iraq, not been shaken by the captive soldiers' words? Even if they [captives] were probably forced to say what they said, not because they are not convinced of it, but because it's illegal to cross the party and because a soldier's duty is strictly limited to defending the country without being allowed to voice political opinions.

Did you not feel the weight of your war fall on our shoulders? How many martyrs must further fall in car bombs attacks in the southern suburb and Hermel for you to understand that the gunpowder you are using in others' wars is now on our streets, taking out lives for the sake of a regime that we confronted for decades.

Strange you are indeed. Racing to praise the Army and its strength, yet hide at the first turn of events. You hide behind your bare slogans such as protecting national unity and warding off sectarian sedition.

We, in Lebanon, are sectarian. This is the bitter truth that we understand but fail to state. We live in its shadow and hide from it.

So hurry up, move it, negotiate, do the unthinkable and save our troops. Throw the murderers and criminals out and let them perish in wars of their own. Most importantly, protect our borders; lock the doors and windows tightly so they are left with no way back in to our lands…

Article originally written in Arabic by Cynthia Sarkis