Islamist militants free Lebanese policemen to solicit truce talks

Lebanese army soldiers sit atop of an armoured carrier at the entrance of the Sunni Muslim border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley August 5, 2014. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamists militants, who seized the Lebanese town of Arsal at the weekend, released three policemen on Tuesday as a "goodwill gesture" to allow Sunni Muslim clerics to broker a deal to end four days of fighting near the Syrian border.

At least 16 Lebanese soldiers and dozens of civilians and militants have been killed in the fighting in Arsal in the most serious spillover yet in three years of civil war in Syria.