Army arrests man suspected of shooting at soldiers

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army announced Saturday that its forces had arrested a man suspected of shooting at an army patrol and a military center.

Here's what we know:

  • The army arrested the suspect, identified as T.H., in a raid on his house in the town of Jalala, in the Bekaa valley,  on Friday, the statement said, in connection with a June 5 incident in which a group of people opened fire on an army patrol that was conducting a raid, killing one soldier and wounding others.

  • The suspect had also allegedly shot at at several military centers and a mosque previously and thrown a grenade.

  • A military weapon and ammunition belonging to the suspect were seized from his house, in addition to 15 kilograms of hashish and a quantity of captagon pills and other narcotic pills, the army statement said.

    • The Bekaa, where non-state arms are widespread, is a center of the drug trade in Lebanon and often the scene of bloody clashes between rival clans, and sometimes between locals and Lebanese Army soldiers.