Lebanese troops seize area by Syrian border

Town of Arsal, in Lebanon proper, wrested from Syrian Islamist rebels who captured it last month

BEIRUT (AP) — A senior military official and state media say that Lebanese troops are advancing near Syria, almost separating a border town from rebel-held areas in nearby fields.

The military official and the National News Agency said Tuesday that troops captured a post they lost when Islamic extremists overran the town of Arsal last month, killing and capturing a number of soldiers and police officers.

The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said “90 percent” of the area between the town of Arsal and its rebel-held outskirts that stretch to Syria was now held by troops.

The rebels’ incursion into Arsal in August was the most serious spillover yet of Syria’s conflict into the neighboring country.