BAALBEK/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army expanded shelling along the northeastern border with Syria Tuesday, as a soldier and a fugitive were killed in a military raid in the northern region of Akkar.
Speaking to The Daily Star, security sources said the shelling began late Monday night, as artillery barrages targeted ISIS and Nusra Front positions around Wadi Hmeid and Wadi Hosn on the outskirts of Arsal.
The Army has also shelled militant positions on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, on the barren mountainsides lining the Bekaa Valley, for 10-15 minutes every few hours, in a bid to discourage attacks. A strategy of pre-emptive shelling was implemented in January, after eight soldiers, including an officer, were killed and 22 others wounded in clashes with ISIS militants on the edge of Ras Baalbek.
The attack was the most serious since ISIS and Nusra Front militants fought a five-day battle with the Army in the northeastern town of Arsal in August. The two militant groups still hold 25 soldiers and policemen hostage in the outskirts of the town, after capturing more than 37 during the fighting. Four have been killed and eight others released.
Further north, a Lebanese Army soldier and a suspected militant were killed in an exchange of fire during a raid in the Akkar town of Bhenin, a security source told The Daily Star.
The source said Abdul-Rahman Tamer, a wanted fugitive, exchanged gunfire with the Army early Tuesday, killing him and a soldier.
A Lebanese Army statement said that Tamer opened fire on a military patrol, killing a soldier and prompting troops to shoot him. The statement added that Tamer belonged to “Sheikh Khaled Hablas’ terrorist group,” which is accused of gunning down four soldiers in an October ambush in the Minyeh-Dinnieh area of Mhamra. Hablas remains at large.
The statement identified the fallen soldier as Pvt. Mohammad Hussein Shabake. He has been laid to rest in the northern city of Tripoli.
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