Group launches peace initiative in Arsal

The Muslim Clerics Group announced in a press conference on Tuesday it had launched an initiative to stop the fighting in the town of Arsal, northeast of Lebanon, and to have the armed militants withdraw to Syria.
The Group said in the press conference held in the Bekaa area, east of Lebanon, that a delegation representing it went to Arsal yesterday carrying with it a peace initiative calling for releasing kidnapped soldiers by the militants and for the latter to withdraw to Syria.
This initiative aims at returning the situation in Arsal to normality, said Cleric Raed Helaihel, a member of the Group. It is hoped that talks in Arasal would bear fruit as they will be joined by the prime minister Tamam Salam and leaders in the Lebanese army.
In a related matter, official Lebanese media sources said that militants in Arsal had released three Lebanese security personnel or soldiers whom they had kidnapped. Their release came after the Muslim Clerics Group met with the militants and in conjunction with the Lebanese army, said the sources.
The militants, who belong to extremist Islamic organizations, had previously attacked a number of army and police centers in the town of Arsal, capturing more than 20 soldiers and security personnel and leading to fierce fighting between the army and the militants.