Army Destroys Nusra Posts on Eastern Border amid Report of IS Attack

Artillery shelling by the Lebanese army on Tuesday destroyed the posts of the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front in the Wadi al-Kheil and Khirbet Younin areas in the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal, media reports said.

Militant vehicles were seen going up in flames after the army used long-range multiple rocket launchers in its bombardment, al-Jadeed TV reported.

The shelling of the outskirts of the eastern towns of Arsal, Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa intensified in the afternoon and the sounds of blasts were echoing across northern Bekaa, state-run National News Agency reported.

NBN television meanwhile quoted a military source as saying that the extremist Islamic State group had attacked an army patrol that was planting landmines on the Ras Baalbek-al-Qaa road near the al-Hamra hill.

“No casualties among army troops were reported and this is the same road that the suicide bombers used to reach the town of al-Qaa,” the source said, adding that “the clashes are still ongoing.”

The army has been shelling the outskirts of Arsal, Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa for several days now.

Troops have been on high alert since the unprecedented suicide bombings that hit the Christian border town of al-Qaa in late June.

Militants from IS and al-Nusra are entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.

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

The retreating militants abducted more than 30 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in the captivity of the IS group.