Al-Nusra Gunmen Nab 4 Syrians from Arsal Refugee Camp

Gunmen from the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front on Tuesday abducted four Syrians after attacking a refugee camp in the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal.

“Al-Nusra Front armed men riding in two SUVs raided a Syrian refugee camp in the Wadi al-Hosn area in Arsal's outskirts and kidnapped four Syrians who hail from the town of Qara,” state-run National News Agency reported.

It identified the abducted men as the brothers Imad and Ahmed al-Ghawi, Fouad Yassine and Mohammed Hassan al-Ghawi, saying they were taken to an area under the control of gunmen on the Syrian side of the border.

On April 3, the army shot dead a Syrian man and wounded two others after they fled on a motorcycle from a checkpoint in the Wadi Hmayyed area. NNA said they were members of al-Nusra Front.

In March, fifteen Syrians, including members of al-Nusra, were held at the army's Wadi al-Shaab checkpoint in Arsal for attempting to enter Lebanon with “fake identification papers.”

Since the eruption of the uprising in Syria in March 2011, security forces and the army have arrested a number of gunmen and individuals who sought to enter Lebanon illegally.

The un-demarcated Lebanese-Syrian border has facilitated the flow of gunmen to and from Syria.

Y.R.

S.D.B.