Army Detains Six Lebanese, Syrians in Ras Baalbek

The Lebanese army detained three Lebanese national and three Syrians in a pickup truck in the Ras Baalbek region in the eastern Bekaa and seized in their possession illegal material.

“An army unit arrested at 3:00 pm on Sunday three Lebanese nationals and three Syrians and seized in their possession 109 detonators, reels, igniters and fuses, in addition to six bags containing chemical substance,” the army said in a communique issued overnight Monday.

The Lebanese were identified as: Haidar Abdul Karim al-Hujeiri, Kamal Abdul Rahman Rayed and Ziad Abdul Karim al-Hujeiri.

The Syrians are: Abdul Aleem Tamer al-Mughayzel, Mohammed Mahmoud Sharafeddine, and Abdo Suleiman Darwish.

The driver of the pickup Haidar al-Hujeiri, according to the statement, didn't hold legal identification papers.

The detainees were handed over to the competent judicial authority for questioning.

The security situation in Lebanon has been steadily worsening, inflamed by the Syrian civil war, in particular after deadly clashes that broke out between the army and Islamist gunmen in the northeastern border town of Arsal on August 2 over the arrest of a member of the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front.

The fighting ended with a ceasefire on August 7 but the militants kidnapped several troops and policemen.

The development prompted the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to pledge to bolster the army.

H.K.

M.T.