Army Arrests Group for Transporting Arms in Arsal as Report Says 'Suicide Vests' Seized
The army announced on Sunday the arrest of a number of individuals for transporting weapons in the Bekaa region of Arsal, reported the National News Agency.
The Army Command said in a statement that a driver of a pick up truck was arrested at a checkpoint after a number of weapons were found in his vehicle.
Other individuals linked to the incident were also arrested.
Investigations are underway in the case.
Meanwhile, the Beirut-based, pan-Arab television al-Mayadeen said the army arrested five people -- two Syrians, a Lebanese and two Palestinians -- who were carrying "suicide vests."
The vests were carrying the Islamic phrase La Ilaha Illa Allah (there is no God but Allah), al-Mayadeen said.
It did not mention where exactly the five men were arrested or whether it was referring to the same incident that happened earlier in Arsal.
Later on Sunday, the National News Agency said the army intercepted a white van and arrested five people of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationalities on Arsal's road.
"Uniforms carrying al-Nusra Front badges were found in their possession and they were on their way to Arsal's barren mountains with the aim of infiltrating Syrian territory," the agency added.
Border areas in the north and east have been struck by frequent cross-border shelling and clashes linked to the Syrian crisis, while the Syrian regime has told Lebanon to better control its porous border to prevent the smuggling of fighters and arms.
Lebanon is sharply divided over the war in Syria and Arsal is a particular flashpoint as refugees from the uprising and fighters and smugglers hostile to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad traverse the border.
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