7 Lebanese soldiers freed after truce deal

Seven Lebanese soldiers being held by militants in the Arsal region on the Syrian border were freed on Thursday after a truce deal, the official National News Agency (NNA) said.

The NNA said the seven were freed in an army operation, although there was no immediate confirmation from the military.

The releases came after a delegation of Sunni clerics said it had negotiated a deal under which militants who have been fighting the army in the area since Saturday would withdraw and turn over prisoners.

The Daily Star reported that the deal was brokered by mediators from the Committee of Muslim Scholars.

On Wednesday night, chief negotiator Sheikh Hossam al-Ghali said the militants, believed to be from several militant groups operating in Syria, had begun retreating.

"Fighters in Arsal have started to head across the Lebanese border" into Syria, Ghali said.

He said a ceasefire would be in place until 7:00 pm on Thursday (1600 GMT), following an agreement between Lebanon's prime minister, the army and other parties.

"They asked not to be shot at as they withdraw, and if that happens the whole agreement will be in jeopardy," he said.

"All the prisoners are alive and despite difficult negotiations we have clear and positive promises they will be released. I hope that will happen on Thursday," Ezzedine said.

In further tensions, according to the Daily Star protesters blocked roads in Beirut, Bekkaa Valley and the north on Wednesday. The protesters are accusing the army of breaking the agreement after the army had shelled militants in Arsal.

Residents from the village of Labweh also stopped an aid convoy from entering Arsal as the residents feared that IS militants would gain access to it, says The Daily Star.

But the blocking of the aid convoy for Arsal by residents of Labweh set off tensions.

In the northern city of Tripoli, a homemade device exploded, killing one and wounding an unspecified number of people, a local security source said.

Protesters, meanwhile, set ablaze tyres on roads in Sunni districts of the city and on a road in the eastern Bekaa, AFP correspondents said.

Another negotiator and cleric, Samih Ezzedine, said the militants had agreed "to leave Arsal completely within 24 hours".

At least 22 soldiers and 20 policemen were reportedly taken hostage by the militants, who attacked troops in the Arsal region of eastern Lebanon on Saturday.

Another 17 soldiers have been killed, and more than 80 wounded in the fighting, which is the worst violence in the area since the conflict in neighbouring Syria began in March 2011.

The UN agency for refugees, the UNHCR, has said it received reports from field hospitals in Arsal of at least 38 people killed and more than 250 wounded in the fighting, but there was no official confirmation of this.