Hezbollah checkpoint attacked
September 21, 2014
Unidentified attackers struck a Hezbollah checkpoint just inside Lebanon's border with Syria on Saturday. The bombing followed news that a captured Lebanese soldier had been executed by the Nusra Front, a Syrian branch of al Qaeda.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA said three people were killed at the checkpoint when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-rigged vehicle about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border with Syria.
Al-Manar television, which is run by Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia based in Lebanon and sided with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, denied that Hezbollah members had been killed.
Lebanon: soldier executed
Earlier on Saturday, Lebanon's Defense Minister Samir Moqbel said a further Lebanese soldier had been "killed by terrorist groups who threatened to kill other hero soldiers in captivity."
Nusra has been demanding the withdrawal of Hezbollah from Syria and a detainee swap for Islamist prisoners held in Lebanon.
A Twitter account attributed to Nusra said on Saturday that the group had killed a captured soldier - reportedly the third executed by hostage-takers since August.
Hostages held since August
Some 35 Lebanese police and soldiers were captured in early August, when fighters of the Nusra Front and jihadist Islamic State (IS), overran the Lebanese border town of Arsal.
The incursion into Arsal (pictured) amounted to the most serious border incident in Lebanon since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011.
The fighting ended five days later with a truce as the jihadists took shelter in mountainous areas along the Syrian border.
Lebanon's army has since clashed sporadically with the jihadists.
Spill-over from Syrian conflict
On Friday, two Lebanese soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on their vehicle in the Arsal area. Lebanese forces responded with a series of arrests and artillery fire.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 11 members of Nusra and other extremist groups were killed in the bombardment on Friday night.
Syria's three-year war has destablized Lebanon, which has taken in more than one million refugees.
ipj/lw (Reuters, AP, dpa, AFP)