Lebanese Shiite threatens to behead 3 Syrian children with a knife as he terrorizes them

A Lebanese man has been arrested after a sickening video emerged showing him wielding a knife and threatening to behead three Syrian refugee children left in his care.

The footage, which was filmed in Lebanon's southern Nabatiyeh province, shows three terrified children sobbing uncontrollably as the man shouts and thrusts a large knife in their direction.

At one point the man cruelly asks who he should behead first - to which the traumatised children, the eldest of which appears to be no more than seven years old, respond by pointing at each other.

Lebanese security officials said a man was detained at the weekend over the incident pending further investigation, adding that the children's mother - who has reportedly confessed to enjoying the 'sick joke' - was also briefly detained before being released.