An Australian national is among seven people arrested in northern Lebanon on suspicion of having links to terrorist groups and being in the country illegally, according to the Lebanese army.

The man was arrested on Monday along with six Lebanese nationals in an army raid in the Koura district, near Tripoli in the country’s north, “as part of the prosecution of wanted suspects”, an army statement said.

“The detainees were handed over to the competent authority to take the necessary action.”

Koura has been the site of dozens of arrests in the past months in Lebanese army crackdowns on alleged terror suspects and refugees without legal documentation.

The Lebanese army has been involved in regularly deadly clashes with Islamic militants as the civil war in neighbouring Syria spills over the border.

Four Syrians were arrested in a separate raid in the Beirut suburb of Tariq al-Jedideh.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was trying to confirm the man’s arrest.