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                 Nusra Front Returns Lebanese Soldiers in Swap

   by VOA News

   Al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front fighters released a group of 16 Lebanese
   soldiers Tuesday as part of an exchange brokered by Qatar.

   Militants from Nusra and the Islamic State group captured about 25
   soldiers during an August 2014 attack on Arsal, a town in northeastern
   Lebanon near the Syrian border.  The militants killed 10 Lebanese
   soldiers during the attack and several others they captured in the
   raid.

   The fighting erupted when the militants were angered by the Lebanese
   detention of a Syrian believed to be a Nusra member.

   Tuesday's exchange included Lebanon freeing a number of prisoners.
   Nusra also returned the body of one soldier it had killed.

   Violence from Syria's civil war has spilled over into Lebanon multiple
   times since the conflict began in March 2011.  The Lebanon-based
   militant group Hezbollah has also sent fighters into Syria to fight on
   behalf of President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/nusra-front-returns-lebanese-soldiers
   -in-swap/3082356.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nusra-front-returns-lebanese-soldiers-in-swap/3082356.html