Clashes in Arsal resume between troops and militants

In a statement, the Army said that Islamic militants ambushed a five-strong unit in the border village of Al-Rahwe, prompting other units to launch an offensive against the gunmen and rescue four.

The Army said its soldiers also destroyed an armoured vehicle belonging to the militants that was equipped with an anti-aircraft missile and killed and wounded an unspecified number of gunmen.

The Army rushed reinforcements to the village and Arsal to prevent a militant advance, the source added. Armoured vehicles and military trucks, carrying dozens of soldiers, were seen driving through the main entrance of Arsal and heading toward its outskirts.

Moreover, sources said Hezbollah also fired rockets from Miqraq and Zabboud, near the Bekaa Valley town of Labweh, on the same militant positions overnight. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Heavy clashes broke out after midnight between Hezbollah fighters backed by Syrian regime forces and rebels, according to the sources, who said the fighting centered in Lebanese territory facing the Syrian border town of Flita.

Sources in the eastern town of Hermel said Syrian warplanes dropped barrel bombs on areas where many Syrian opposition fighters were entrenched, including the outskirts of Arsal, Wadi Hmeid and Ajram.

The overnight shelling was the first confrontation between the Army and militants since ISIS and Nusra Front retreated from Arsal following five days of deadly clashes earlier this month.