An exchange of prisoners between the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the Nusra Front began on Wednesday with four detainees held by the Lebanese security forces being handed over for three members of the militia.

The exchange deal comes after days of fighting between Hezbollah militias and militants of the Nusra Front in the border area between Lebanon and Syria, which includes Arsal on the Lebanese side and the Qalamun Mountains on the Syrian side.

Under a local ceasefire between the Lebanese Shiiite group and the Sunni militants, about 9,000 fighters and their relatives would leave for rebel territory in Syria on Monday, a Hezbollah media unit had earlier said.

Nusra Front was al-Qaeda's Syria branch until it severed ties and rebranded last year. It now spearheads the Tahrir al-Sham Islamist alliance in the Syrian war.

Source: Alarabiya