Army Arrests IS Official in Arsal amid Clashes with Armed Groups

The army succeeded on Monday in arresting an official from the extremist Islamic State group in the northeastern border town of Arsal, reported the National News Agency.

He was identified as Ahmed Ammoun.

The arrest was made amid clashes between the military and armed groups in Arsal.

NNA said that IS gunmen opened fire at the house of a member of the Webeh family after Ammoun was arrested, accusing the former of informing on the extremist.

This led to the clashes between the army and gunmen.

A member of the Internal Security Forces, Hussein Ali al-Fleiti, was wounded as he was passing in the area.

Ammoun is responsible for several assassinations that have taken place in Arsal, said NNA.

The army frequently engages in fighting with extremist groups that are entrenched along the porous Lebanese-Syrian border.

A major confrontation erupted in August 2014 when the IS and al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front group overran Arsal in the wake of the arrest of a senior IS leader.

Nineteen soldiers and around 60 militants were killed in the fighting. The jihadists of the two groups also abducted during the battle dozens of troops and policemen of which four were eventually executed.

M.T.

Y.R.