Lebanese border town receives 12,000 refugees in days as key battle looms. United Nations officials in Lebanon say more than 12,000 new refugees have arrived in Arsal in the past four days, the highest influx into the Sunni Muslim town at any point in the past 32 months.

New arrivals say thousands more are making the journey from the towns and villages that dot the Qalamoun range between the Lebanese border and the Syrian capital, Damascus.