The Lebanese army arrested Sunday a defecting Syrian army colonel in the eastern Bekaa border town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported.

"Mahmoud Abbas, a defecting Syrian colonel and a member of the Syrian Revolution Military Council, was arrested in Arsal's Wadi Hmayyed," the report said.

Abbas was previously in charge of the army's front in Al Qusair, a Syrian town adjacent to the Lebanese border. The town was the scene of a fierce battle in mid-2013, which saw the Syrian army rout the rebels from their stronghold.

Later Sunday, the Lebanese army announced the arrest of two Syrian nationals, Omar Mahmoud Othman and Radwan Mahmoud Ayyoush, in Wadi Hmayyed for illegal entry.

"The detainees are being interrogated under the supervision of relevant judicial authorities," the army said in a statement.

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