Lebanese troops shelled militant positions in the mountains around the town of Arsal on the Syrian border today as fierce fighting raged there for a third straight day.
Thick smoke rose from Arsal, reportedly after a petrol station in the town was set on fire.
In the early hours of the morning today, several hundred people fled the town during a lull in the fighting.
They packed into pick-up trucks and cars to drive out of the region, where militants began fighting the Lebanese army on Saturday afternoon.
The clashes began after the arrest of a Syrian man accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda´s Syrian branch Al-Nusra Front.
Following his arrest, gunmen surrounded army posts before opening fire, sparking clashes that have killed at least 10 soldiers.
Another 13 soldiers are missing, along with an unspecified number of policeman, with Lebanon´s army chief General Jean Kahwaji saying Sunday that the troops might have been taken hostage.
Three civilians have also been killed, according to security sources, two of them during the storming of a police post by the gunmen on Saturday and a third killed by sniper fire on Sunday in Arsal.
