A Lebanese Army unit arrested several officers and soldiers on Sunday who had fled the former Syrian Army in the Mallouleh area of Tripoli. The suspicious group, traveling on a bus, was stopped to verify the passengers' identities.
According to local sources, the detainees are currently being investigated to determine the details of their escape and the reasons for their presence in the area. Army units have also stepped up security measures in and around Tripoli, patrolling the surrounding areas for any attempts to infiltrate the country or disrupt security.
These arrests followed an incident on Saturday evening, when youths from Tripoli’s Bab el-Tebbaneh neighborhood handed over a group of deserters from the 4th brigade of the former Syrian Army to the Lebanese Army.
The incidents occurred after Syria’s new government launched a large-scale operation against Bashar al-Assad’s “militias” on Thursday.
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told AFP on Sunday, “In less than a week, nearly 300 people have been arrested in Damascus, its suburbs, and the regions of Homs, Hama, Tartous, Latakia, and even Deir Ezzor.”
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