A temporary ceasefire that was expected to come into effect at 6 pm, failed to be implemented, and the clashes continued between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the militants
Earlier, an initial ceasefire agreement was reached in Arsal, while a delegation from the Association of Muslim Scholars headed to the town in order to discuss the situation of the civilians and the missing Lebanese Armed Forces members.
In this regard, sources told LBCI that the agreement reached is no truce, but only a temporary ceasefire, in order to allow the negotiators to enter Arsal.
Meanwhile, military sources reported that LAF soldiers regained control over 90 percent of hills surrounding the region of Arsal, after new armed groups have entered the town after their failure to take over the town's technical school.
This comes after the Lebanese army
thwarted a counter attack by gunmen on Arsal's technical school leading to their retreat.
Clashes are ongoing on Monday between the Lebanese army and gunmen in Arsal's barren range, more specifically in Raas al-Sarj and Wadi Ata areas, the state-run National News Agency reported.
"The army has reinforced its positions at the barracks of Arsal after its retrieval from gunmen," the agency said, adding that the military has brought additional reinforcements.
"The number of missing LAF soldiers has risen to 22," military sources said.
A Lebanese security official also told Reuters that the army is advancing in Arsal and has found 50 dead militants.
LAF STATEMENT
The Lebanese Armed forces Command issued a statement on Monday afternoon, whereby it said that the number of army martyrs has risen to 14, while the number of injured reached 86, adding that 22 army members were reported missing.
In a statement issued earlier, the Lebanese army said that its units have taken full control of Arsal's technical school after it came under attack by terrorist groups.
"Several casualties and martyrs fell in the wake of an attack launched by army against gunmen in Arsal's technical school, which led their retreat," the military said.
The statement also noted that terrorist groups are attacking Arsal residents and are preventing them from leaving the town after they killed a number of citizens who refused to comply with their orders on Sunday.
HEAVY DISPLACEMENT
Confrontation between locals and displaced Syrians was reported also Monday in Arsal after Syrian refugees attempted to seize a number of homes whose original owners had fled for fear of the escalating violence.
In this regard, sources told LBCI that the army is only allowing Arsal residents to exit the town, noting that the displaced Syrians are denied leave.
LBCI crew managed to reach the Ain al Chaab checkpoint, which had been the scene of fierce clashes between the army and gunmen on Sunday.
Lebanese soldiers traded fire with Islamist gunmen and shelled areas around the border town of Arsal on Sunday aiming to roll back the biggest incursion by militants into Lebanon since Syria's civil war began.
According to AFP, 16 Lebanese soldiers had died in the fighting, which erupted after Islamists seized a police station following the arrest of one of their leaders on Saturday - an attack that army chief General Jean Kahwaji said was premeditated.
"What happened is far more dangerous than some believe," Kahwaji told reporters in Beirut, saying the arrested commander had admitted to planning a large attack against army positions.
"The terrorist attack that occurred yesterday was not an attack by chance or coincidence. It was planned previously, a long time ago, awaiting the appropriate time," he said.
An unknown number of militants and civilians, possibly dozens, were also killed in the fighting. More than a dozen members of Lebanon's security forces were taken captive, while some 15 soldiers are also missing, security sources said.
Security officials say the gunmen in Arsal include fighters linked to the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, as well as Syria's al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front.
Bombardment of the area prompted a large number of the tens of thousands of refugees sheltering in the area to flee, residents said. Entire refugee families abandoned their shelters as fires broke out in the camps, Syrian activists in the area said. Images showed plumes of black smoke rising from the mountainous area around the town.
Lebanon, a Mediterranean country of about 4 million people that borders Israel, has struggled with the shockwaves of Syria's three-year-old conflict, whose sectarian dimensions echo those of its own 1975-90 civil war.
LBCI/REUTERS
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