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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Clashes Erupt in Arsal between Army, Islamist Militants |
| 2014-08-29 |
| [AnNahar] Clashes broke out on Thursday between the army and Islamist gunnies in the northeastern border region of Arsal, media reports said. It said that an army post came under attack by gunnies from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front in the al-Rahwa region. Fierce festivities have ensued, it added, while MTV said rocket-propelled grenades were used in the fighting. The army has since brought reinforcements to the area, reported LBCI television. Earlier, the army repelled an attack by jihadists on its base in the Wadi Hmeid area of Arsal, leaving casualties among their ranks, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said the Lions of Islam advanced on the base on Wednesday night and sought to isolate it by advancing towards Arsal, which lies about 90 kilometers from Beirut. But the troops engaged in heavy gunbattles with the fighters, leaving several of them maimed, the agency said. It was not clear if the fighters belonged to the Islamic State or al-Nusra Front, whose members fought the army for several days earlier this month. The army has yet to issue a communique on the details of the fighting. The Arsal festivities erupted on August 2 when the military tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! an al-Nusra Front official. It was the most dangerous spillover from Syria and raised fears of the advance of the Islamic State on Leb. The fighters withdrew from Arsal after a ceasefire was brokered by Moslem scholars. But they took with them hostages from the army and security forces. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |