Lebanese Army soldiers on armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and military vehicles gather in Labwe, before heading towards the Sunni Muslim border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley August 7, 2014. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah
OUTSKIRTS OF ARSAL Lebanon (Reuters) - Militant Islamists withdrew from a Lebanese border town they seized at the weekend, ending five days of deadly fighting but taking with them captured Lebanese soldiers as hostages, militant and security sources said on Thursday.
Muslim clerics who had been mediating an end to the conflict in Arsal said they would negotiate for the release of remaining captives held by Sunni militants whose incursion marked the most serious spillover of Syria's civil war into Lebanese territory.
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