Hezbollah killed two militants and took several others captive after ambushing their post on Lebanon's northeastern border, Al-Manar television said Thursday. In a newsflash, the Hezbollah-run station said the captured militants "admitted" that two of their comrades were killed and five others wounded in the attack, which took place in the area of Wadi al-Khayl on the outskirts of Arsal. The report did not identify to which group the militants belonged, but Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Nusra Front is known to have a strong presence in the area. The news comes five days after the Nusra Front said it had captured three Hezbollah fighters and killed and wounded several others in northern Syria. Militants from Nusra Front and ISIS have been holed up on the outskirts of Arsal after briefly overrunning the town in August 2014, sparking a five-day battle with the Army. The militants abducted over 30 soldiers and policemen during the battle, 25 of whom remain in captivity on Arsal's outskirts. Hezbollah announced its involvement in the Syria war in spring 2013 in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. In May of this year, Hezbollah and the Syrian army regained swaths of land after battling militants in Syria's Qalamoun mountain range along Lebanon's eastern borders. Months later, the party announced that its fighters were also battling extremists on the outskirts of Arsal.
