At least six Lebanese troops have been killed in clashes between the army and militants in the country’s second largest city of Tripoli.
The army said in a statement that the soldiers were killed in the northern city’s historic market during encounters with the militants on Saturday.
Five soldiers were killed in clashes with the militants in Tripoli and an area north of it. A Lebanese soldier also died of wounds he sustained during clashes on Friday
The statement added that the military arrested some of the gunmen and seized their weapons and ammunition. Several militants were killed and wounded in the fighting.
The skirmishes came two days after troops raided the northern Dinniyeh region, slaying three militants and detaining a local leader.
One of the dead was a Lebanese soldier, identified as Abdul-Qadir Akkoumi, who said earlier this month that he had defected and joined the ISIL terror group.
Separately, an officer was killed and two others injured when militants fired a rocket propelled grenade at an army vehicle in the nearby town of Minye, while government forces also clashed with gunmen in the town of Mhamra, where two soldiers lost their lives.
Tensions have soared in Lebanon since August when the army fought deadly clashes with the al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Nusra Front in the border town of Arsal.
The Takfiri terrorists have abducted more than three dozen soldiers and security forces in Lebanon. They have executed at least three of the hostages.
Over the past months, Lebanon has been suffering from terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda-affiliated militants as well as random rocket attacks, which are viewed as a spillover of the conflict in Syria, which has been gripped by a deadly crisis since 2011.
