Lebanon bomb kills 5 on Syria border: security source

A roadside vehicle bomb killed at least two people and wounded three on Thursday when it exploded in northeast Lebanon in an area close to the Syrian border, security sources and local media said.

The source says that the bomber entered the meeting of Syrian clerics and “detonated an explosive belt, leaving five people dead and six wounded until now”.

The agency said the bomb was placed on a motorcycle that blew up outside the association’s office.

Still, Lebanon, which has seen plenty of violence in recent decades, has been feeling the impact of the bloody civil war in neighboring Syria.

Arsal was the scene of fierce fighting in Aug 2014 between Lebanese security forces and militants of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group. The Qalamoun Scholars Association tried to mediate for the release of the Lebanese troops. Often, family members do not even know if their relatives are still alive or where they’re held.

Families pay brokers up to tens of thousands of dollars for news of their disappeared relatives, sometimes receiving false information in return.