Army Detains Two Lebanese Linked to Policemen Abduction Ordeal

An army unit detained overnight two suspects over links to the abduction of Internal Security Forces members in August in the northeastern border town of Arsal and assaulting military positions in the area.

The army said in a communique issued on Friday that Ahmed Ali Kranbi and Ali Abdullah Kranbi were arrested on charges of engaging in an assault with terrorist groups on army posts in Arsal during battles with jihadists in August, attacking the police station in the area and kidnapping several policemen.

The statement said that investigations are underway with the two suspects under the supervision of the competent judicial authority.

Jihadists from al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are entrenched on the outskirts of the town on the porous Syrian-Lebanese border.

The army engaged in a fierce gun battle in August with jihadists who streamed across the border.

Fighting ended with a truce mediated by clerics, but the jihadists took with them the Lebanese army and police hostages.

At least four have since been executed.

Meanwhile, the army said in another statement that a unit detained a group comprised of seven individuals trying to infiltrate Lebanon through an illegal crossing in the town of al-Sweiri near the Masnaa border checkpoint in the Bekaa valley.

The military command said in its communique that the army unit issued several warnings to the seven individuals to persuade them to stop but they refused to comply to their orders and fled the area, which compelled troops to pursue them.

Lebanese national Imad Ahmed Zrara and Syrian Sabri Mohammed were detained in the process.

The statement said that an illegal motorcycle and car were seized from the infiltrators.

Mohammed Khaled Hammoud, a Lebanese, was wounded in the chase and succumbed to his wounds at a hospital he was admitted to in the Bekaa.

The detainees were handed over to the competent judiciary for investigation.

H.K.

G.K.