Report: Soldier who Defected to IS Arrested in Akkar
A Lebanese soldier who had defected to the Islamic State group in 2014 has been arrested in the northern region of Akkar, a media report said on Friday.
“The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch arrested in Akkar Lebanese army deserter Mohammed Abdul Aziz Youssef, who hails from the town of Mashha,” al-Jadeed television reported.
The soldier “had defected to the IS group in Arsal's outskirts in the year 2014,” the TV network added.
“He was arrested after an exchange of gunfire at the intersection of the town of Kousha,” al-Jadeed said.
Several soldiers have defected to the IS and the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front in recent years.
In October 2014, the soldiers Mohammed Antar and Abdullah Ahmed Shehadeh announced their defection to al-Nusra in separate videos. The first time a Lebanese soldier defected to the Qaida-linked group was in July that year.
Another soldier defected to the extremist Islamic State group also in late 2014.
Militants from the IS and Nusra are entrenched in mountainous regions along the porous Lebanese-Syrian border. The Lebanese army regularly shells their positions and Hizbullah fighters have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.
The fighters of the two extremist groups stormed Arsal in August 2014 and engaged in bloody battles with Lebanese troops and policemen. They eventually withdrew after a ceasefire but took with them over 30 hostages from the army and the police, of whom four have been executed.
Sixteen Lebanese servicemen were freed in a swap deal with al-Nusra in early December.
Y.R.
M.T.
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