Lebanese army thwarts militant attack along Syrian border

Intense clashes erupted at dawn Monday between extremists and the Lebanese army on the country's northeastern border, the National News Agency reported, saying the militants were eventually warded off.

The army foiled an attempt by the militants to infiltrate its positions in Masyada and Wadi al-Hosn on the outskirts of Arsal, along the Syrian border, according to the report.

The military inflicted casualties among the ranks of the militants, the report added, without elaborating.

ISIS [Daesh] and Nusra Front militants have been holed up in the mountainous border region around Arsal for about two years.

They have been targeted in what the military describes as preemptive shelling on a nearly daily basis over the past year to keep the extremists contained.

The army does not always issue statements on its operations in east Lebanon.