BEIRUT: Two Lebanese men were arrested on suspicion of smuggling arms into Syria through the Bekaa village of Arsal.

Military judge Imad al-Zein questioned the two, who were identified by their first names as Wael and Bahaa, and subsequently issued the arrest warrants for arms trading and smuggling.

Syria has repeatedly urged Lebanese authorities to curb arms smuggling via the poorly demarcated border between the two countries.

Arsal has been the at the center of a nationwide controversy after Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said that al-Qaeda members had taken up residence in the village in the guise of Syrian opposition members. The claim prompted the country’s High Defense Council to launch an investigation along with a crackdown on arms smuggling and other illegal activity in the region.

Recently, a number of people have been arrested in Lebanon for smuggling weapons into Syria.