Naharnet

Army Targets Militant Posts on Outskirts of Arsal

The Lebanese army targeted on Saturday posts for militants on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal with heavy artillery, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA, said that the shelling was accompanied by a reconnaissance plane that fired surface-to-air missile.

Causalities were inflicted, the news agency said, without specifying further details.

On Friday, fierce clashes erupted between the Lebanese army and gunmen on the outskirts of Arsal.

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 and Qatari-led efforts to free the rest have so far failed.

H.K.

D.A.


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