Rocket Fired from Arsal Outskirts Hits al-Nabi Othman amid Army Crackdown

A rocket fired from the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal landed Wednesday in the plain of the nearby town of al-Nabi Othman, media reports said.

Earlier in the day, the army deployed heavily in Arsal and erected several checkpoints in its northern neighborhood, state-run National News Agency said.

The army measures come in the wake of “recent attacks on Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens in the town,” NNA added.

Militants from the Islamic State and the rival jihadist group Fateh al-Sham Front are entrenched in Arsal's outskirts and in mountainous areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border.

The Lebanese army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian forces have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.

The two groups overran the eastern border town of Arsal in 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.

The retreating militants abducted more than 30 Lebanese soldiers and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in IS' captivity.