Lebanese Army Kills Mastermind of Terrorist Attacks on Lebanon-Syria Border

The Lebanese army carried out a special operation on Tuesday, killing Syrian national Yasser Ghawi, who is a suspected mastermind of the terrorist attacks in the village of Ras Baalbek located on the Lebanon-Syria border.

BEIRUT (Sputnik) — According to Lebanon's National News Agency, the military also arrested four terrorists in an apartment near the border city of Aarsal. Weapons, ammunition and explosives were discovered in the apartment.

In late June, the Lebanese military conducted raids on two refugee camps near Aarsal and killed four suicide attackers, according to the army command. One of them managed to activate an explosive device near a Lebanese military patrol, while the second group of servicemen was hit by a grenade. However, the incidents did not lead to casualties.

Aarsal, located on the Syrian-Lebanese border, has been one of the most unstable of Lebanon’s inhabited areas for the last three years. The town has been infiltrated by terrorists who exploit the region in order to establish secure ways to smuggle arms and militants through the Syrian border.

The Lebanese army, as well as the Shiite movement Hezbollah, regularly track the locations of militants in the mountainous canyons in the Aarsal area and shell them in attempts to prevent terrorists from entering Lebanese territory.