The Lebanese army fought an open battle in the Bekaa Valley town of Arsal. It started on Aug, 2, and so far, it is unclear how the final settlement will be; the battle is now suspended.

Arsal is a Sunni town around which open, barren land stretches 50 kilometers (30 miles). It is bordered by Syria to the east and by a number of Shiite towns, notably Labweh, to the west. Arsal, with a surface area of ​​317 square kilometers (197 square miles) and a population of about 40,000, hosts about 120,000 displaced Syrians who have taken refuge there since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis.

On Aug. 2, Arsal was overrun by thousands of gunmen who attacked it from the surrounding mountains and were joined by others from among the displaced in the town. The move was sparked by the arrest of a top wanted person, Imad Ahmed Jumaa, at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Arsal. Jumaa had joined Jabhat al-Nusra in the Qalamoun battle and then swore allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) two weeks ago. According to military sources, Jumaa confessed during interrogation on the day of his arrest that he was carrying out reconnaissance missions on army positions in preparation to attack and take soldiers hostage to exchange for Islamist fighters. He was also planning to attack Bekaa villages found suitable for the establishment of an Islamic emirate. Jumaa’s arrest prompted the gunmen to attack army posts in Arsal and its surroundings. Lebanese commander Jean Kahwaji described the attack as “pre-planned in detail.”

According to sources monitoring the situation in the field, about 5,000 gunmen were in Arsal, with about 2,500 others scattered in its surroundings. The fighters seem to be of several nationalities. They came to Arsal with light and medium weapons, a lot of fighting experience and skill with explosives acquired from Syrian battles in Qusair, Qalamoun, Yabrud and Nabak.