A Lebanese army vehicle deployed in Wadi Khaled, in North Lebanon, near the Lebanese-Syrian border. (Credit: Michel Hallak.)
NORTHERN BEKAA — The Lebanese Army arrested a smuggler on Monday evening in the village of Hosh al-Sayyed Ali, in northern Bekaa, on the border with Syria, after an armed confrontation with Syrian security forces.
According to available information, the Syrian agents stationed along the border refused the passage of a tanker truck coming from Lebanon at the illegal border point of Moukheiber, which led to armed clashes. Gunfire was heard in the vicinity.
A motorcycle in the possession of the arrested smuggler was seized. The Lebanese Army has not yet officially communicated on the matter.
Last March, the army deployed in this region following numerous skirmishes over several days between members of Lebanese Shiite "clans" living in the area and forces of the new Syrian regime. Intensive shelling and clashes with exchange of fire followed a supposed "infiltration" of Syrian soldiers into the Hermel region, while Damascus reported an ambush and the "liquidation of Syrian soldiers by Hezbollah."
Reporting by our regional correspondent Sarah Abdallah.
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