Beirut tightens siege on armed groups

[bemildred]

The Lebanese army has tightened the noose around seven Palestinian faction bases close to the Syrian border.

The move comes amid claims by a Palestinian faction leader that his men are holding six Lebanese soldiers captive and a report by the UN envoy calling for action to disarm the fighters.

Officers said about 500 soldiers backed by 50 armoured cars were now deployed around the camps in the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon range that marks the border, two operated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and five by Fatah-Intifada.

Soldiers on Thursday were seen manning checkpoints on all access roads to the bases and operating armoured patrols on the tracks linking PFLP-GC bases in Sultan Yacub and Kfarazabad to those of

Al Jazeera