Beirut militant uprising in Syria not only spread to Iraq which is located in the east of the country. Now also extends to neighboring Syria in the west, namely Lebanon.
Gunmen killed ten Lebanese soldiers in clashes that erupted near the border with Syria after the army arrested a suspected militants from neighboring countries that are war-torn, so the military said on Sunday.
The shootout is one of the worst to hit the region in Ersal border war in Syria since the start in 2011 in which gunmen attacked army and Lebanese police.
The violence occurred on Saturday afternoon, after the arrest of a Syrian man, Imad Ahmed Jumaa, who by the armed forces are said to have claimed to be a member of al Nusra Front associated with al Qaeda.
On Sunday morning, the fighting continued, and the army said troops have killed 8 people. Follow up reports mention two more members of their troops have been killed in the incident.
"The unity-unity of the armed forces continue military operations in the region and surrounding Ersal overnight until morning to chase and confront armed groups," the military said.
"In that battle, the army lost eight martyrs and a number of others have been injured," their statement said.
A number of militants and civilians have been killed, perhaps up to tens of people, and security sources said at least 16 members of the Lebanese security forces who had been held captive.
Planned attacks
According to the head of the armed forces, the militant attack was planned in advance.
"This terrorist attack, which happened yesterday, is not a surprise attack or accidental. Attacks had been planned in advance, and even long before, to wait for the right time, the last 48 hours ago," said Gen. Jean Kahwaji in a news broadcast on television in Beirut.
Throughout the night, the armed forces, forces they fought with the gunman who fired mortar shells toward Ersal and surrounding areas.
Residents said that tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who took refuge in the mountains around Ersal have left their camp and sleep on city streets to avoid the bombing.
The fire has spread in several camps. Television pictures showed a large plume of black smoke rising from the hills surrounding the city.
"They opened fire from all directions," said Qassem Al-Zein, a doctor at a field hospital in Ersal and added that the hospital had recorded 17 civilians killed to date.
Battle began when the armed men who surrounded the wrath of the arrest Jumaa Lebanese army checkpoint before start shooting at the soldiers and stormed a police station in the town of Ersal, according to excerpts from security sources.
Two civilians were reported to have been killed in the raid to the police station, and the gunman was said to have been captivating a number of police, although there is no justification for this news.
Army and Air Attacks
Syrian armed forces also regularly conduct air strikes and shelling the area around Ersal and said that they are targeting the rebels were hiding in the mountains that surround the city kawasn border.
In his first statement on the crisis, Hezbollah said on Sunday that they "shoulder to shoulder" with the military while facing a threat to the "unity, sovereignty and tranquility" of Lebanon.
Tensions peaked there at the beginning of this year with the flood of refugees and Syrian fighters after the power is supported by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, reclaimed large areas of Qalamoun, just across the border.
Although most of Qalamoun was retaken by the Syrian regime, a number of pockets of resistance, including the militant group al-Nusra and Islamic Daulah (Islamic State / IS, formerly named ISIS), settled in the region.
The jihadis involved in a fierce conflict against the Syrian regime in Qalamoun region since Friday night. There are at least 50 militants have been killed, according to Human Rights Observer (HAM) Syria (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights), based in London.
According to them, more than 170,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011 and the violence that often spills into Lebanon, which hosts more than a million refugees Syria.
