Residents of Once Isolated Tufail Return to Town

Residents of the remote border village of Tufail in the Bekaa Valley started returning to their homes on Thursday after being forced to leave three years ago due to infiltration by the Syrian army and Hizbullah fighters.

About 270 families from the border town gathered Thursday at the entrance of the Bekaa town of Baalbek preparing to return accompanied by the Lebanese army forces.

The return is under the auspices of Dar al-Fatwa, accompanied by the Lebanese army and army intelligence, the General Security Directorate and Mufti of Baalbek-Hermel Sheikh Khaled Solh, the National News Agency said.

Tufail, which lies in eastern Lebanon in an area surrounded by Syrian territory, came under attack three years ago compelling its resident to leave.

It became an isolated village after the only unpaved road that leads to it came under the control of the Syrian government troops.

Many of the Tufail's residents left the town and lived in encampments in the northeastern border town of Arsal, in Baalbek and in Riyaq.

LBCI said that the only dirt road that leads to the town was partially paved by the armed forces.

The town is located at the end of the eastern mountain belt's plains, in an area that is 24 kilometers inside Syrian territories. Tufail is surrounded by Syrian lands to its north, east and south, and by the Lebanese villages of Ham, Maarboun and Brital to its west.

More than 4,000 Lebanese nationals reside in Tufail, a mix of Sunni, Shiite, and Christian, with a Sunni majority.