Lebanese army troops clash with gunmen in east Lebanon

Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) clashed on Friday with three armed men driving a four-wheel vehicle at a military checkpoint near the eastern town of Arsal, the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The army troops arrested two of the gunmen but the third managed to flee, the NNA said. The troops confiscated a car loaded with arms, ammunition and military equipment after the firefight.
The regulars, on Thursday, engaged in fierce clashes with gunmen in the mountainous regions close to the town. They intervened after a military patrol was ambushed. One soldier was wounded, according to an army statement, adding that another was "missing." Arsal has turned into a flashpoint of sporadic clashes between the army troops and the armed militants, entrenched in hideouts scattered on the mountainous ridge marking the Lebanon-Syria border line.