BEIRUT — Two senior Islamic State group fighters, including a leader
of the extremist organization, were killed in Lebanon Thursday, as the
country’s army carried out an operation targeting one of the militant
group’s “key posts” on the nation’s northeastern border. A third man was
arrested.

Nayef Shaalan, who also was called Abu Fouz, was the
leader of the extremist group aka either ISIL or ISIS in the border town
of Arsal, long a stronghold of the militant group. During clashes with
the Lebanese army on the outskirts of Arsal, Shaalan and his “Syrian
escort” Ahmad Mroueh were killed, while ISIS’ regional security
official, a Syrian national named Moustafa Mousalli, was detained, the
army said in a statement.

Lebanese security officials previously had been monitoring Shaalan’s
whereabouts, accusing him of either carrying out or planning several
attacks on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria. This week,
Hezbollah said it thwarted an ISIS attack on one of its bases near
Arsal.

“The targeted terrorists had participated in fighting
against the army in 2014, and they are responsible for rigging a number
of cars and causing several explosions that targeted army posts and
civilians in Arsal and its surroundings,” the Lebanese army said in its
statement.

Arsal has been a hotbed of fighters from both al
Qaeda’s Nusra Front and ISIS for almost two years, since the groups
coordinated on the kidnapping of 30 members of Lebanese security forces
in the town in August 2014. The extremists have employed the captives as
leverage to buy themselves freedom of movement in Arsal and its
surrounding mountainous region.

Al
Qaeda-linked Nusra Front fighters carry their weapons on the back of a
pickup truck during the release of Lebanese police and soldiers in Arsal
in the eastern Bekaa Valley of Lebanon Dec. 1, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Stringer

Most
of that time, Lebanese security forces and Hezbollah, the armed
Shiite Muslim party in the country, were able to carry out only minimal
operations around Arsal because of fears hostages would be killed in
retaliation.

Late last year, however, the Lebanese army and
Hezbollah stepped up attacks in the border region after the Nusra Front
agreed to a prisoner swap. Meanwhile, ISIS still holds hostage nine members of the country’s security forces.