Syrian refugees tents burn as Lebanese soldiers raid it in Ersal, Thursday, Sept. 25. |
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) detained four Nusra Front extremists and investigated 470 suspected Islamist militants in Ersal, Tripoli, Akkar and Koura, Lebanese security sources said on Thursday, as it steps up efforts to prevent them from using the frontier town of Ersal as a base.
“The LAF arrested four Al-Nusra Front fighters and tens of other militants suspected of taking part in clashes against the army in Ersal,” the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Ersal was the scene of the deadliest spillover of fighting in the three-year crisis in Syria.
During those clashes that killed dozens, “Islamic State” and Nusra Front militants captured a group of Lebanese soldiers and have since killed at least three of them. They are believed to be holding more than a dozen others.
The families of soldiers held captive by the militants escalated protests urging the government to act to free their relatives, blocking major roads linking Beirut to Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley.
The army said on Thursday it had searched a camp near the border for suspects. It gave no further details.
Anti-Assad insurgents often cross the porous border, using Ersal to rest or seek medical treatment, and the town also hosts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.
“While the Lebanese Army was raiding camps of Syrian refugees in search for wanted individuals in Ersal on Thursday, three members on a motorcycle tried to burn a Syrian camp. The army immediately opened fire,” the army directorate said.
However, a group of Sunni Muslim religious scholars accused the army of committing abuses during its campaign in Ersal on Thursday and called for a formal investigation in the raids.
The Muslim Scholars Committee condemned the alleged “human rights violations” it said occurred during military raids on Syrian refugee camps in Ersal.
“We condemn the attacks on the Army, but the collective punishment of Syrian refugees cannot be justified,” the Muslim Scholars Committee said in a news conference.
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