BEIRUT — The Lebanese army agreed to a 24-hour cease-fire in a border town held by Islamic extremists from Syria Tuesday to allow for negotiations for the release of captive soldiers and evacuate casualties, a senior Lebanese security official said.
The deal appears to be the fruit of mediation by Muslim clerics to help end four days of fighting in the town of Arsal. Islamic extremists from Syria overran the town on Saturday, seizing Lebanese army positions and capturing a number of soldiers and policemen.
The fighting in Arsal marks the first time that the rebels battling President Bashar Assad have carried out a large-scale incursion into Lebanon, raising fears that the tiny country is being further drawn into its larger neighbor’s bloody civil war. The clashes have killed 17 soldiers and wounded dozens.
In an apparent gesture of good will, militants released three policemen they had been holding captive on Tuesday. The Lebanese security official said the army later agreed to a ‘‘humanitarian’’ 24-hour truce to give way to negotiations for more such actions and to ease the suffering inside the town.