Army Arrests Senior Nusra Official in Arsal

The army on Tuesday arrested a senior official of the jihadist al-Nusra Front group in an ambush in the eastern border town of Arsal, state-run National News Agency reported.

It identified the official as Adnan Mohammed Slaibi, saying he is also known as “Zoaiter.”

“He was transferred to a military post for interrogation,” the agency added.

Al-Nusra has recently rebranded itself as Fateh al-Sham Front after announcing a severing of ties with the global jihadist network al-Qaida.

Militants from the group and the rival Islamic State jihadist group are entrenched in areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian forces have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.

The two groups overran the town of Arsal in 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.

The retreating militants abducted more than 30 Lebanese soldiers and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in IS' captivity.