Lebanese authorities complied with the appeals of the residents of the border town of Tufail, deploying some 30 military vehicles to the area after security tensions in the past week.
Last Tuesday, armed gunmen opened fire from the Syrian side of the border at a number of houses and the water and electricity stations in Tufail in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
The army intervened and deployed in the village, but the gunmen managed to flee towards Syrian territory through illegal crossings.
Residents fear there are attempts to displace them from the area, accusing Lebanese businessman Hussein Dako of standing behind the attack. Dako refutes the accusations, saying he is being blackmailed.
On Tuesday, Mufti of Baalbek and al-Hermel Sheikh Bakr al-Rifai intervened to calm the situation. A delegation of residents also visited Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian for the same purpose.
Accordingly, a decision was taken to allow members from the State Security, the General Security and the Lebanese army to deploy in Tufail and establish a post there.
Also, members of the Lebanese army land border regiment positioned on the outskirts of the border with Syria, worked on opening the road to Tufail from Lebanese territories and by fixing the electricity and water stations that were damaged following last week’s clashes, residents told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The town is located at the end of the eastern mountain belt's plains, in an area that is 22 kilometers away from the last Lebanese village in eastern Bekaa.
Tufail is surrounded by Syria to its north, east and south, and by the Lebanese villages of Ham, Maarboun and Brital to its west. The majority of its residents are Lebanese, but several hold the Syrian nationality.
