Army Raids IS Post near Arsal, Arrests Four Militants
A special army unit raided a post for the Islamic State group outside the northeastern border town of Arsal on Thursday and managed to arrest several terror suspects, media reports said.
“An army intelligence patrol attacked an IS post in Arsal's Wadi Ata area where it managed to arrest several very dangerous terrorists,” state-run National News Agency reported.
The detainees were transferred to a military barracks, it said.
According to media reports, the detainees are Lebanese nationals Tareq al-Fliti and Sameh al-Breidi and two Syrians who are yet to be identified.
Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said army intelligence agents arrested Fliti and Breidi in a raid on “a house in Arsal” and that the attacking force did not incur any casualties in the exchange of gunfire.
And as LBCI television said Fliti and Breidi were wounded in the operation, al-Jadeed TV said one of those arrested was critically wounded in the clash.
The detainees were eventually transferred to the capital Beirut, according to al-Jadeed.
LBCI later reported that the detainees were involved in "booby-trapping cars and sending them into Lebanon; murdering Major Pierre Bashaalani and First Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman; and fighting against the army in Arsal's clashes."
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) meanwhile said that the detained militants were behind the latest death threats that were launched against several Arsal figures.
Militants from IS and Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front, are entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.
The two groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.
The retreating militants abducted more than 30 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in the captivity of the IS group.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/214266 |