Lebanon’s Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Friday that Arsal is an occupied Lebanese town.

He said that thousands of militants were living in the mountainous border town of Arsal, along with 120,000 Syrian refugees, who outnumbered the residents.

Machnouk said the main concern of the security institution in Lebanon is not to be involved or trapped in the Syrian conflict.

The Lebanese minister said what was happening in Arsal was part of the Syrian civil war.

Sources: MENA