Four Rockets Strike East Lebanon

Local Editor

Four rockets struck residential neighborhoods in Lebanon's eastern town of Labwe and its outskirts on Monday injuring at least person, the army said.

The rocket attack on East Lebanon was the latest strike by Syrian armed groups on targets inside Lebanon after Syrian forces recaptured the border town of Yabroud from armed groups on Sunday.

The opposition defeat at Yabroud sent a stream of refugees and fighters across the border towards the Lebanese Bekaa Valley town of Arsal, and was followed hours later by a suicide car bombing against the border town of al-Nabi Othman.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam met army chief General Jean Kahwaji on Monday and called on the military to "take all necessary measures to control the situation in Bekaa's border areas," a statement from his office said.
When the rockets struck Labwe and al-Nabi Othman, about five miles west of Arsal, gunmen took up positions on the street and others leapt into cars. Reuters journalists in the town heard sirens of emergency vehicles.
The attack on the towns followed a suicide bombing which martyred two people in al-Nabi Othman on Sunday.

At the site of the blast yellow banners were flying on Monday. "Dear criminals, our blood is stronger than your terror," read one of them, next to the Hizbullah's logo.
The blast blew apart buildings in the area, including a barber shop where the twisted remains of a barber chair were visible through the door. A damaged grey Mercedes was in the road and the twisted charred remains of a car.

One person was martyred in the same town on Saturday after several rockets were fired from near Ersal in an attack claimed by al-Nusra Front in Lebanon.
In the Bekaa Valley on Monday the army blew up an explosives-laden car about three miles north of Sunday's suicide bomb attack. The twisted and charred remains of the car could be seen in a field of almond trees on the side of a hill on the outskirts of the small town of Fakeha.

Army humvees mounted with machine guns rolled along the crest of the hill and Lebanese soldiers in fatigues patrolled through the fields and the town, taking up positions along roadsides looking for the men who had been driving the car.

Access from Labwe to Arsal was blocked, possibly to prevent Syrian militants who may have crossed into Arsal from coming into confrontation with residents of Labwe.
In the northern coastal city of Tripoli, the army clashed overnight with fighters who fired rockets at military posts, security sources said.
Twelve people have been killed in four days of fighting triggered by tensions between rival neighborhoods.

Meanwhile ,in Lebanon's far northeast region of Wadi Khaled, the army arrested 19 Syrians and two Lebanese attempting to cross into Lebanon from Syria carrying assault rifles, 30 cell phones, a laptop and money of different currencies, according to an army statement.
In his meeting with the army chief, Prime Minister Salam also instructed the military "to adopt zero tolerance" towards anyone threatening security in Tripoli, Lebanon's second city.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team