Report: Army Thwarts Suicide Attack at Arsal Checkpoint

The army succeeded on Friday night in thwarting a suicide bomb attack against a checkpoint in the Bekaa region of Arsal, reported An Nahar daily on Sunday.

It revealed that soldiers had halted the attack shortly after it stopped a Syrian, a Palestinian, and Danish citizen of Palestinian origins at the Hmeid checkpoint on the outskirts of Arsal.

They were traveling from Syria in a Mitsubishi vehicle without license plates or identification cards.

Upon halting the vehicle, one of the Palestinians, wearing an explosive belt, stepped out of the car and attempted to blow himself up.

The soldiers however shot and killed him before he would carry out his attack.

His two companions have since been arrested.

A Kalashnikov rifle and another explosive belt attacked to a hand grenade was found in their possession.

The Army Command had initially revealed the attack in a statement on Friday night, saying that it had arrested three gunmen as they attempted to infiltrate Lebanon from Syria earlier that day.

On July 14, the army arrested a number of individuals for transporting weapons in Arsal.

The Beirut-based, pan-Arab television al-Mayadeen said those arrested were two Syrians, a Lebanese and two Palestinians who were carrying "suicide vests."

Border areas in the North and East have been struck by frequent cross-border shelling and clashes linked to the Syrian crisis, while the Syrian regime has told Lebanon to better control its porous border to prevent the smuggling of fighters and arms.

Lebanon is sharply divided over the war in Syria and Arsal is a particular flashpoint as refugees from the uprising and fighters and smugglers hostile to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad traverse the border.