Eight people were killed in eastern Lebanon on Monday (July 23rd) in an army raid on the home of a suspected drug trafficking baron, AFP reported.
"An army unit raided the house of Ali Zayd Ismail, wanted on several counts of drug trafficking in the area of al-Hamudiya-Brital," in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the army said.
"The unit was shot at... forcing the force's members to retaliate, which led to the killing of eight gunmen," it said in a statement.
The army said it detained a further 41 people, six of whom were wounded in the clashes, and seized weapons and drugs.
The statement did not say whether Ismail, a notorious figure, was among those killed or arrested.
But an army source said he was killed in the raid and identified by a relative.
In April, the army seized 20 kilogrammes of Captagon from an abandoned house they said Ismail was using in Brital. And in December, the army seized 800 kilogrammes of cannabis from Ismail's home.
