Clashes erupted in Arsal on Saturday afternoon when Syrian gunmen deployed across the region after the Lebanese Armed Forces arrested Syrian national Imad Ahmad Jomaa at a checkpoint.
The army said 17 soldiers have been killed, with at least 30 other ISF and LAF soldiers missing and 86 injured in the fighting. Lebanese security officials say the fighters include members of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.