Lebanon army vows to fight ‘terror’ after troops killed

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s army vowed to battle “terrorism” hours after a suicide bomber killed three soldiers at a checkpoint in the east near the border with war-torn Syria.

“The army knows that it is now more than ever targeted by terrorists who want to prevent the establishment of the authority of the state and its attempts to eliminate discord,” the military said in a statement issued late on Saturday.

It came as a new security plan came into effect on Sunday aimed at quelling spillover violence from the conflict in Syria.

Under the new plan, the army will deploy more heavily in flashpoint areas of Arsal in the east and Lebanon in the north.

The military will also conduct raids aimed at arresting suspects, and in restive Tripoli the army will disarm fighters.

Lebanon’s north and east have seen clashes and attacks between those who support the rebellion against Syria’s President Bashar Assad and those who back Damascus.

The army command “will continue to fight and pursue terrorists, and is determined to implement the security plan... whatever the sacrifices”, the statement said.

But in a fresh incident on Sunday, the army defused a bomb that was set to explode at a military post in Tripoli, a security source said.

“The explosive device was timed to explode at 5:00pm (1400 GMT),” the source told AFP.

The narrowly averted attack comes a day after three soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle at an army checkpoint at Aqabet Al Jurd in the Arsal region.

Arsal, near the border with Syria, is a Sunni town where residents support the rebels fighting Assad’s forces. The town also hosts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Saturday’s attack was claimed on Twitter by a shadowy group calling itself Liwa Ahrar Al Sunna — Arabic for the Brigades of the free Sunni Muslims — which also vowed more attacks.

“The next few days will see several jihadist and blessed attacks like this one. This is only the beginning,” the group said, adding that the army would be among its targets.

It said Saturday’s attack was to avenge the death of Sami Al Atrash, wanted in connection with car bombings targeting Lebanon’s Shiite group Hizbollah which has been fighting alongside Assad’s forces.

Atrash was killed on Thursday in a shootout with the army in Arsal.

Hizbollah’s participation in the Syria conflict has raised sectarian tensions in Lebanon.

Hizbollah bastions inside Lebanon have been the target of several bloody attacks since last summer, claimed by extremist Sunnis who say the attacks are a response to the group’s involvement in Syria.

Extremist groups accuse the army of discriminating against Sunnis who back the Syria uprising and of turning a blind eye to Hizbollah sending fighters across the border.