The Lebanese army on Friday said it has arrested 11 men, including four Syrians, for weapons possession in a tense border town that has seen frequent unrest linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria.

The Lebanese army on Friday said it has arrested 11 men, including four Syrians, for weapons possession in a tense border town that has seen frequent unrest linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria.

"Army units deployed in Arsal arrested on Thursday and Friday 11 people including four Syrians, and seized from their possession weapons, ammunition and military material," the army said in a statement.

The arrests took place "in a mountainous region leading to the Lebanese-Syrian border," and were part of "operations the army is carrying out to arrest wanted people... and to end weapons smuggling and illegal crossings" across the border.

Lebanon's military intensified its operations in Arsal in eastern Lebanon after two officers were killed in a clash with armed men on February 1, as an army patrol was seeking to arrest a wanted suspect.

The patrol was ambushed by unidentified gunmen and the suspect was killed in the ensuing unrest.

The army has since intensified its security around the town in an effort to arrest the assailants

Also on Friday, a group of Arsal residents demonstrated near a checkpoint against the army's measures, and troops shot into the air to disperse them, a security official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Northern and eastern Lebanon have been struck by frequent cross-border shelling and clashes, while the Syrian regime has told Lebanon to better control its porous border to prevent the smuggling of fighters and arms.