Al Nusrah Front and Islamic State militants began withdrawing from Arsal, after releasing six kidnapped Lebanese security forces; the militants still hold 17 ISF personnel and 10 soldiers, according to the Committee of Muslim Scholars, which mediated a ceasefire that started yesterday. Al Nusrah said the remaining kidnapped soldiers have a “special status.” Abou Talal, the deputy of Imad Jomaa, an Islamist commander whose arrest triggered the recent clashes, has also been involved in negotiations. The truce has reportedly allowed most of the roughly 2,000 Islamist fighters to leave the town; a large convoy of Syrian refugees also left. Lebanese forces rescued seven policemen held by Islamists in Arsal. A bomb targeting an army patrol in Tripoli killed at least one person and wounded several others.
