Three Lebanese Army soldiers were killed Tuesday in an attack on their checkpoint in the eastern border town of Arsal, security sources told The Daily Star Tuesday.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said unidentified gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint in Wadi Hmeid on the outskirts of Arsal around 3 a.m., killing three soldiers of the Army's 6th Brigade.
They said the gunmen drove a black Hummer, which sped off toward Syrian territory after the incident.
Tuesday’s attack was the second on the Lebanese Army in Arsal this year.
In February, gunmen ambushed an Army patrol in Arsal, killing Capt. Pierre Bashaalani, 31, and Sgt. Ibrahim Zahraman, 32.
That ambush came after the military arrested fugitive Khaled Hmayyed, a resident of Arsal, who was killed during a clash with the patrol.
Syria-related violence has escalated in Lebanon in the wake of a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last Saturday, in which he promised "victory" in Syria. It's thought that thousands of Hezbollah militants have joined government forces in an attack on the Syrian town of Qusayr.
Two rockets exploded in a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut on Sunday, causing widespread damage and five casualties.
A further rocket attack hit the city of Hermel in the Bekaa calley on Monday night, security sources told The Daily Star.
The sources, who requested to remain anonymous, said Loulou Awwad was killed when a rocket crashed into her parents' house in Hermel.
