Residents flee Arsal amid heavy clashes

ARSAL, Lebanon: Fleeing the clashes between the Army and Syrian armed groups, many residents of Arsal are leaving their town, while others are stuck in neighborhoods turned into battlefields.

According to The Daily Star correspondent in the area, a car is leaving Arsal every minute, carrying families who are afraid of the escalation of clashes inside the town.

“Whoever is able to flee is not hesitating, but we cannot flee because the clashes are taking place just down the street,” Mohammad Hujeiri, a Lebanese resident of Arsal told The Daily Star by phone.

“The clashes have become extremely violent since an hour ago, and especially here in west Arsal,” he said, describing the sounds of bombs and armed clashes shaking his neighborhood.

Residents of areas witnessing heavy clashes have been moving to safer neighborhoods inside Arsal, while others have left the town completely. Those leaving the town are mainly heading to Baalbek, or to other nearby villages such as Ras Baalbek and Fakiha.

However, some residents said they faced difficulty leaving. Merhi Fliti told The Daily Star that Arsalis were unable to leave the town due to the presence of "armed men from Labweh" blocking the only road connecting Arsal to the Bekaa Valley.

The highest concentration of clashes lies in Wadi Hmayyed, where Syrian armed groups killed two Lebanese soldiers Saturday in an attack on a checkpoint, along with Mabyada and Masyada, also bordering Syria.

An Army checkpoint in a valley in Shoob, a neighborhood on the entrance to Arsal, has also been the target of excessive sniper fire by militants, who are deployed on the hills surrounding the checkpoint.

The clashes have so far resulted in at least 10 deaths among Army troops, and the kidnapping of around 20 Internal Security Forces.

However, an Army unit was able to free two wounded soldiers after raiding a house in which they were apprehended, arresting many Nusra Front militants.

The extremist Nusra Front had posted a YouTube video allegedly showing 20 Lebanese Internal Security Forces members “announcing their defection from the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah.”