The Syrian army and Hizbullah fighters are locked in a fierce battle with Islamist gunmen to control the Lebanese eastern border village of Tufail, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Saturday.
Security sources told the newspaper that the Syrian army, backed by Hizbullah, is advancing from the north on the outskirts of Tufail village.

The son of the leader of Suriname pled guilty in New York on Friday to attempting to provide material support to Hizbullah, conspiring to traffic cocaine and a firearms offense.
Dino Bouterse, 41, a former counter-terrorism chief in his South American country who has already served time for drugs and weapons trafficking, now faces spending 15 years in a U.S. prison.

A huge fire erupted on Friday afternoon in Sahel al-Fayda area on the outskirts of the Bekaa city of Zahle, setting several refugee tents ablaze.
The fire set ablaze “more than 70 tents,” LBCI television reported, adding that civil defense forces rushed to the scene to contain the flames.

The Muslim Scholars Committee, who was tasked with negotiating with jihadist fighters on the case of troops abducted during the Arsal clashes on the border with Syria, could not deny or confirm on Friday reports about the slaughtering of an army sergeant who hails from the northern Akkar town of Fneideq.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State-linked Fajr al-Islam Brigade aired late on Friday a videotape featuring several kidnapped army troops calling on their parents to block roads and pressure the cabinet to release them in exchange for Islamist inmates held in Roumieh.

Two Hizbullah members were killed on Thursday in Syria's al-Qalamun region in clashes with opposition forces battling the Damascus regime including al-Nusra Front fighters, an NGO reported on Friday.
"Two Hizbullah members were killed yesterday and six others were injured” during clashes against fighters of Islamic brigades and al-Nusra Front in al-Qalamun, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

Army troops clashed on Friday with an armed group in the Wadi Hmayyed region of the northeastern border town in Arsal, and managed to detain two gunmen.
Army forces located a Chevrolet car in the Wadi Hmayyed heights area in which there were three gunmen, the military institution in a communique.

A shipment of weapons, ammunition, and equipment was delivered by the United States to the Lebanese army on Friday.
The assistance arrived at the Rafik Hariri International Airport and will be aimed at aiding the army in its combat of terrorism.

Electricite du Liban announced on Friday that the state-run firm's managers have informed the director general that they were not responsible for the repercussions of the work stoppage caused by the contract workers' strike.
The managers sent Director General Kamal al-Hayek a memo stating they were “banned” from carrying out their duties at the company's headquarters in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael district.

Security guards at the prison of Zahle foiled yet again an attempt by a visitor to smuggle a quantity of hashish to an inmate.
The National News Agency reported on Friday that the 20 grams of hashish were packed in a halva box.

Head of Arsal Municipality Ali al-Hujeiri described the situation in the northeaster town as “calm,” lashing out at attempts to involve the army in armed clashes by reporting rumors.
“The situation in Arsal is calm and normal, but gunmen remain scattered on the outskirts of the town,” Hujeiri told al-Liwaa newspaper published on Friday.
