"Following investigations with 3 Syrians, who were arrested 3 days ago by the army in Baalbek, it was revealed that they are connected to Imad Jomaa," security sources told LBCI on Friday.
"The Syrians also know the place where Lebanese Armed Forces martyr Abbas Medlej was buried and where the kidnapped troops are being held by Islamic State militants," the sources said.
The detention of Imad Jomaa, the leader of the Fajr al-Islam Brigade, had caused security tension in the border town of Arsal, claiming the lives of 20 soldiers and leaving 86 others injured.
Earlier on Friday, sources also reported that the detainees have links to gunmen in Arsal's barren range, noting that investigations are ongoing to confirm whether they were involved in the killing of Medlej.
The Syrian nationals, arrested for infiltrating into the Lebanese territories, were handed to the Baalbek police station.
"The LAF Information Bureau received, late on Thursday, the detainees who were then transferred to Beirut for further investigations," the security source said.
Relatives of LAF martyr Abbas Medlej cut-off on Friday the road in the Dours region at the entrance of Baalbek, following reports that 3 Syrians affiliated with the Islamic State were arrested, one of whom participated in the killing of Abbas.
"We ask the Lebanese state to execute the Syrian national who killed my son," the victim's father told LBCI.
Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted on Saturday (September 06) a commander of the Islamic State as saying that the group had executed one of the captured Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers for trying to escape.
"LAF soldier Abbas Medlej tried to escape from prison and after he attempted to open fire at IS members, we took control of the situation by slaughtering him," the Islamic State- Qalamoun branch said in a statement.
Also on August 28, the Islamic State posted photos and a video online depicting a militant beheading a blindfolded hostage who was identified as Lebanese Armed Forces Sergeant Ali al-Sayyed.
On Sunday (August 31), Lebanon's military said an al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebel group released five members of the Lebanese security forces captured earlier in August in a cross-border raid.
The men were taken hostage when militants from Syria took over the Lebanese border town of Arsal for five days before withdrawing toward the Syrian frontier, taking with them Lebanese soldiers and policemen as hostages. The clashes were the most dangerous spillover of violence from the civil war in neighboring Syria.
While the release of the five men provided a degree of relief, concerns remain about the troops and policemen still in captivity.
For more details, watch Bassam Abou Zeid's full report in the video above
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