Lebanese army detains 50 in north after weekend clashes
BEIRUT - Lebanese troops detained 50 people in raids on towns and Syrian refugee camps in the north of the country, the army said on Thursday, part of a security crackdown after battles with Islamist gunmen over the weekend.
The army has mounted several raids since Islamist militants clashed with soldiers in and around the northern city of Tripoli from Friday to Sunday, some of the worst fighting to spill over to Lebanon from the Syrian civil war.
Soldiers moved on the towns of al-Minya, Mashta Hassan, Mashta Hammoud and refugee camps in the town of Behneen on Wednesday. The 50 detainees were mainly Syrian but included nine Lebanese and one Palestinian, an army statement said.
In one of the raids, soldiers seized a number of weapons including rocket-propelled grenade launchers as well as communications equipment, the statement said. Soldiers also stopped and arrested a man at a checkpoint near the northern Lebanese border town of Arsal who confessed to being a weapons smuggler for militants in the area.
