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Rebels fighting in Syria's civil war crossed into Lebanon and raided a border town Saturday, killing and capturing security force members in the most serious incursion into the tiny country during its neighbor's 3-year-old conflict.

The rebels, who included foreign fighters, demanded to trade soldiers and police officers it captured in Arsal for some of the "most dangerous detainees," the Lebanese army said in a statement. Masked gunmen roamed the streets as Lebanese helicopter gunships flew over the town, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the capital, Beirut.

A Lebanese army general told The Associated Press that the gunmen attacked army positions near Arsal and troops returned fire. Another official said the gunmen also took control of the main police station in the town.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Arsal residents later freed police officers at the station, though rebels captured some weapons and released several detainees. It said gunmen killed two residents near the police station.

A picture posted online allegedly showed gunmen in Arsal driving away with about a dozen men, two of them in police uniforms. The photograph corresponded to other AP reporting about the attack.

Gunmen killed two soldiers and wounded several others, the National News Agency reported.

"What is happening today is among the most dangerous of what Lebanon and the Lebanese are being subjected to," the army statement said. "The gunmen kidnapped several soldiers and policemen who were spending the weekend with their families ... and demanded the release of some of the most dangerous detainees held by the army.

"The Lebanese army will not accept that its members be hostages and will not stay silent about targeting the army and Arsal residents."

The statement said the Lebanese army "will not allow any side to move the battle from Syria" into Lebanon. It added that the army "will not allow any foreign gunman to endanger the security of Lebanon or to harm its soldiers or policemen."

The Lebanese army general said earlier in the day that gunmen took two soldiers who were driving an army tanker truck. The army's later statement said the two soldiers were later freed in an army operation.

The general and the official spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam described the attack as a "flagrant aggression against the state of Lebanon" and vowed that his government "will deal with the developments with extreme firmness and strength."

Saturday's attacks came hours after the army said troops detained Syrian citizen Imad Ahmad Jomaa, who identified himself as a member of Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. The National News Agency said Jomaa was detained as he was being brought to a hospital in Lebanon after being wounded while fighting Syrian troops.

A resident in Arsal told the AP that masked gunmen roamed the streets. The man, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said two shells hit a small Syrian refugee camp in the town, sparking a fire.

"Clashes are continuous and people are staying in their homes," the man said by telephone as cracks of gunfire could be heard in the background. "Arsal is under the control of gunmen who are driving around."

Syrian rebels who crossed into Lebanon and raided a border town have killed eight Lebanese soldiers, the military said Sunday, as clashes there continued overnight in the most serious spillover yet in the tiny country from its neighbor's civil war.

The fighting took place in Arsal, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the capital, Beirut, where local television footage showed wailing ambulances racing into town and soldiers standing guard just outside its limits.

Lebanese military forces sealed off the area, preventing reporters from approaching the town.

The fighting began Saturday, hours after the army said troops detained Syrian citizen Imad Ahmad Jomaa, who identified himself as a member of Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. The National News Agency said Jomaa was detained as he was being brought to a hospital in Lebanon after being wounded while fighting Syrian troops.

The Nusra Front is one of the most powerful groups fighting to overthrow the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. It has a strong presence in northern and central Syria, as well around its eastern border with Lebanon.

Lebanon's Sunni community, including in Arsal, broadly support the Sunni rebels fighting against Assad. Shiites, like those belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, typically back Assad.

Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees live in and around Arsal. Rebel fighters sometimes use the town as a base.

Syria's civil war has spilled over into Lebanon on multiple occasions, and inflamed sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites, leaving scores dead. However, previous rebel raids never went so deeply into Lebanese territory. Rebels also directly challenged Lebanese security forces for the first time.

Jomaa was wounded as an ambush took place that killed dozens of opposition fighters, activists said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops and members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group ambushed the rebels in the Qalamoun region that borders Arsal, killing at least 50 of them.

It said seven Syrian troops and fighters of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah were killed in the fighting.

Government troops backed by Hezbollah fighters have seized nearly all the strategic Qalamoun region since launching an offensive there last November, severing rebel supply lines from neighboring Lebanon.

The Syrian uprising began as peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011, but escalated into an insurgency when pro-government forces violently cracked down on dissent. Over 170,000 people, mostly combatants, have been killed in Syria in more than three years of fighting, activists say.

LadyTevar wrote:The rebels made a huge error by involving Lebanon. Lebanon had a nasty civil war that left huge scars, so I'm sure it was watching Syria closely. Now, they've got a good reason to wipe the rebels "to protect Lebanon's borders".

The Lebanese army and Islamist militants agreed a 24-hour ceasefire on Tuesday after four days of fighting triggered by the rebels' seizure of a border town, in the most serious spillover of Syria's three-year civil war into Lebanon.

A security source said the ceasefire would allow time for a mediator to investigate the fate of 22 soldiers missing since the militants seized the town of Arsal on Saturday and to help evacuate civilians, including those wounded in the conflict.

"It is like a humanitarian ceasefire," he told Reuters.The ceasefire, which came into force at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT), was broken briefly late in the evening when an army position came under fire but calm quickly returned, the source added.

"Clashes erupted but now they have ended. The ceasefire is still on, it did not collapse. What happened was to be expected due to differences between the fighters," he said

The source said the militants had suffered big losses in the fighting, adding he expected them to leave Arsal before the ceasefire had ended.

The militants have been identified by officials as members of the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's branch in Syria, and of the Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Rebel sources told Reuters several members of the Islamic State had been killed in the Arsal fighting, including senior leader Abu Hassan al-Homsi, who had been in charge of setting up booby traps and explosions. Another leader of Jordanian origin was also killed in the fighting, the rebel sources said.

At least 17 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in the last few days of violence in and around Arsal, though there has been no sign of the conflict spreading to other border towns.

It is unclear how many militants and civilians have been killed, though death tolls given by security officials and a doctor indicate it is in the dozens.

POLICEMEN RELEASED

Earlier on Tuesday, the Islamists released three policemen they had been holding, in what one militant described as a goodwill gesture in response to a mediation by Sunni clerics from the Muslim Clerics' Association.

The militants in Arsal told the clerics they were willing to withdraw if the army agreed to return only to man checkpoints outside Arsal and not to enter the town itself.

A Lebanese political source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army aimed to retake the hills around Arsal.

"It is not proposed for it to take the battle to the heart of the town," the political source said.

The clashes in Arsal began on Saturday after security forces arrested an Islamist commander popular with local rebels who often move across the porous border with Syria. Soon after the arrest, gunmen attacked local security forces.

Lebanon - a country of about 4 million, bordering Israel - has avoided the kind of war afflicting Syria and Iraq, but regional conflicts have rekindled decades-old tensions.

Some Sunni Muslims joined Syrian rebels and the powerful Shi'ite group Hezbollah has sent fighters to aid President Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite, who also has the backing of Iran.

Hezbollah denied it was involved in the battles in Arsal.

"Confronting the terrorist gunmen is the responsibility of the Lebanese Army solely. Hezbollah did not intervene in what happened or is happening in Arsal," it said in a statement.

Rocket fire, suicide attacks and gunbattles connected to Syria's war have plagued Lebanon and the conflict has worsened Lebanon's perennial political deadlock between officials divided largely along sectarian lines.

In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, which has seen frequent clashes between local Sunnis and members of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority, men blocked several roads on Tuesday. Most shops were shut and streets empty after militants opened fire on a bus carrying soldiers, wounding at least six.

More than 170,000 people have been killed in Syria's war, which started in 2011 as a peaceful protest movement, then degenerated into civil war after a government crackdown.

Syrian activists and medics in Arsal say fighting has badly damaged the camps that are home to many of the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees estimated to live in and around the town.

"The situation is bad. Families are blockaded inside the city. Refugees are on the streets. There is a severe shortage of bread. The medical situation is very bad," a Syrian witness told Reuters in a text message.

Lebanon's army surrounded a border town occupied by Islamist militants on Wednesday as mediators reported progress in negotiations to end to the most serious spillover of Syria's civil war yet onto Lebanese soil.

Soldiers arrested men and evacuated refugees from the hill town of Arsal on the border with Syria. One Syrian refugee said she had seen fighters' bodies lying in the streets.

"We saw death with our own eyes," said Mariam Seifeddin, a 35-year-old mother of nine, who said she had sheltered with about 50 others in a single room without food or water for three days amid intense fighting.

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah granted $1 billion to help the Lebanese army bolster security as they battle militants in Arsal on the Syrian frontier.

Sunni Muslim clerics trying to mediate an end to the fighting said a ceasefire frequently violated since it was agreed on Tuesday was extended for a second day. Fighting flared just one hour into the extension: the army fired artillery when soldiers came under fire, security sources said.

View galleryLebanese army soldiers flash victory signs while riding …
Lebanese army soldiers flash victory signs while riding on armoured carriers and military vehicles a …
Political sources said the army was not planning immediately to retake Arsal but to evacuate civilians. A security official and a doctor in Arsal said many militants had fled into the surrounding mountains following the army bombardment.

Arsal is the first major incursion into Lebanon by hardline Sunni militants - leading players in Sunni-Shi'ite violence unfolding across the Levant - which threatens the stability of Lebanon by inflaming its own sectarian tensions.

While Lebanon has officially tried to distance itself from Syria's conflict, the country's powerful Shi'ite movement, Hezbollah, has sent fighters to aid President Bashar al-Assad.

Dozens of armoured-personnel carriers and tanks were seen on the road heading towards the area. Lebanese special forces were also being deployed on Wednesday, arriving at the nearby town of al-Labwa, where hundreds of soldiers are stationed.

Around 30 prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs were driven out of the town on an army truck. Most were young men, many were wearing red kaffiyeh headscarves.

View galleryArsal residents speak to soldiers from the Lebanese …
Arsal residents speak to soldiers from the Lebanese army to express solidarity with the troops and c …
Members of the Muslim Clerics Association said three captive soldiers had been released, militants had started to withdraw and the ceasefire had been extended for 24 hours.

"They pledged to withdraw from Arsal and the news we received is that they started pulling out," Sheikh Houssam al-Ghali told a news conference.

The clerics said they would start negotiating the release of 27 members of the security forces still being held in the town - 10 soldiers and 17 policemen. That is some 10 fewer than the number cited by officials.

CIVILIANS SUFFERING

At least 17 soldiers have been killed in the violence. Reports from inside the town suggest dozens of civilians and militants have been killed.

View galleryA Lebanese army soldier holds on to a machine gun, …
A Lebanese army soldier holds on to a machine gun, in Labwe in eastern Bekaa Valley August 6, 2014. …
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria's war, said it had confirmed that at least 41 people had been killed in Arsal, including at least 14 civilians.

The militants have been identified by officials as members of the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's branch in Syria, and of the Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Rebel sources told Reuters several members of the Islamic State had been killed in the fighting, including senior leader Abu Hassan al-Homsi.

Local officials in Arsal said it was completely surrounded by the army apart from a corridor apparently left for gunmen who want to retreat.

The town was the first stop for many civilians fleeing the bloodshed in Syria. Refugee camps in Arsal that provide shelter to tens of thousands of Syrians who fled the war have been badly damaged in the fighting, forcing refugees to seek shelter in the town itself, Syrian activists in the area have said.

View galleryLebanese army soldiers flash victory signs while riding …
Lebanese army soldiers flash victory signs while riding on armoured carriers and military vehicles a …
Qassem al-Zein, a Syrian doctor at the field hospital in Arsal said militants "wanted to leave since yesterday but they haven't been able to because of the shelling."

"The important thing is to stop the shelling. The wounded and dead are still coming. Since this morning we've had 30 wounded, all from shelling and snipers. All civilians," he said.

He said the hospital had counted 36 dead civilians since the fighting began. The army has been using artillery to shell Arsal, which is densely populated by tented settlements.

On Wednesday, the army was taking women and children out of the Arsal area. A convoy stopped near Labwa to feed them, carrying water, bread and cheese. Barefoot and dirt-stained children, clearly hungry, devoured the food.

"Since the fighting started, we haven't eaten, drunk or slept. The fighters were firing all the time. We were stuck in one room, then the army came and evacuated us today," said Seifeddin, the 35-year-old mother of nine.

View galleryA Lebanese army soldier flashes a victory sign while …
A Lebanese army soldier flashes a victory sign while riding on a tank as they advance towards the Su …
Men had been taken away for interrogation by the army, but insisted they were farmers, not fighters, she said. Some teenage men said the army had questioned them and let them go.

"Shells and bullets were raining all around us, we've been under siege for three days," said Sabah Omar, a 40-year-old Syrian woman with three children who said she had been displaced three times before.

The clashes in Arsal began on Saturday after security forces arrested an Islamist commander popular with local rebels who often move across the porous border with Syria.

SHI'ITE FIGHTERS

The Islamists freed three policemen on Tuesday in what one militant called a "goodwill gesture" in response to the clerics' mediation. The gunmen told the clerics they were willing to withdraw if the army agreed to man checkpoints only outside Arsal and not enter the town itself.

View galleryLebanese army soldiers flash victory signs while riding …
Lebanese army soldiers flash victory signs while riding on armoured carriers and military vehicles a …
A political source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army aimed to retake the hills around Arsal.

Lebanon - a country of about 4 million bordering Israel - has avoided the kind of war afflicting Syria and Iraq, but regional conflicts have rekindled decades-old tensions.

Rocket fire, suicide attacks and gun battles connected to Syria's war have plagued Lebanon and the conflict has worsened Lebanon's perennial political deadlock, with officials divided largely along sectarian lines.

More than 170,000 people have been killed in Syria's war, which started in 2011 as a peaceful protest movement, then degenerated into civil war after a government crackdown.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, like Hezbollah, is backed by Shi'ite power Iran, Saudi Arabia's rival in the Gulf.

In the Shi'ite town of al-Labwa downhill from Arsal, men wearing black shirts and khaki trousers with walkie talkies and pistols tucked into their belts were on the streets.

One Hezbollah member who refused to give his name said many of the Sunni militants in Arsal were foreigners.

"They will kill anybody who is not like them. Even Sunnis who are not like them, they will chop off their heads," he said.

Lady Tevar wrote:I noticed that myself. Then I saw at the bottom that it's still quasi-religious-politics, as King Abdullah is backing them mostly because they are Sunni, while the ISIS are Shi'ite backed and linked to Iran, who is Saudi Arabia's biggest rival.

LadyTevar wrote:I noticed that myself. Then I saw at the bottom that it's still quasi-religious-politics, as King Abdullah is backing them mostly because they are Sunni, while the ISIS are Shi'ite backed and linked to Iran, who is Saudi Arabia's biggest rival.

Islamist militants from Syria have reportedly mostly withdrawn from the Lebanese border town of Arsal.

Sunni Muslim clerics brokered a truce after days of fighting between the Syrian rebels and the Lebanese army.

Lebanon's government on Thursday announced an extra 12,000 troops would be deployed to the area.

Arsal fell to militants from Syria over the weekend, the first major incursion into Lebanon since the start of the Syrian conflict.

Seventeen Lebanese soldiers have died in the fighting, and 19 soldiers are reported to still be held captive by the militants who released three soldiers and six internal security forces officers (ISF) on Wednesday.

The Lebanese Red Cross sent a convoy to the stricken town which had been inaccessible due to the fighting
Syrian doctors working in the area have said that 42 civilians have been killed in the recent violence, which began on Saturday when the rebels seized Arsal.

Thousands of refugees have also fled the town, crossing the border back into Syria.

Around 47,000 refugees are said to have sought shelter from the war in Syria in tented camps around Arsal, a majority Sunni town in the northern Bekaa Valley.

The Lebanese Red Cross told Reuters that they had not seen any remaining militants whilst evacuating the wounded from the town.

"We didn't see any gunmen. We don't know if they were hiding or if they just weren't there," said Abdullah Zogheib on the road outside Arsal.

Syrian refugees sit in a Lebanese Army truck after fleeing the violence in Arsal, in Al-Labwa in eastern Bekaa Valley
Around 1,500 refugees are believed to have fled the town, heading back to the Qalamun region in Syria
Muslim cleric mediators said that they would continue to negotiate the release of the remaining captives held by the militants.

Several members of the group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, were themselves injured by a hail of bullets on Monday.

The fighters from Syria belong to the militant group the Nusra Front and also included fighters from the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIS.

As the militants withdrew the Lebanese military continued to send armoured personnel carriers to the town, carrying out operations to verify that all the militants had withdrawn.

Lebanon's army has long complained of being under-funded at a time when the country is periodically affected by the fighting in Syria.