Cease-fire in battle against IS on Lebanon-Syria border

A cease-fire took effect Sunday in the border area between Syria and Lebanon, halting separate but simultaneous weeklong offensives against the Islamic State group by the Lebanese army on one side and Hezbollah and Syrian troops on the other. The two sides say they have driven the militants from most of the border region. The U.S.-backed Lebanese military, which denies coordinating its offensive with the Syrian army, said the cease-fire is to allow negotiations over the fate of several Lebanese soldiers captured by militants three years ago. AlIkhbariya, a Syrian TV station, said a Hezbollah delegation has arrived in Syria to evacuate the bodies of Lebanese soldiers. Lebanon’s defense minister said Hezbollah was carrying out the negotiations over the soldiers, who were captured in 2014 when al-Qaida and Islamic State militants briefly overran a Lebanese town near the border. The Syrian official news agency SANA said the area along the border would be declared free of IS militants soon. Al-Ikhbariya quoted an unnamed Syrian field commander as saying the militants have been driven out of some 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) in Syria. Syrian media say around 400 militants and their families are expected to be evacuated toward Deir el-Zour, a city in eastern Syria that is mostly controlled by IS. The Central Military Media, an outlet run jointly by Hezbollah and the Syrian army, said the Sunday cease-fire will pave the way for a comprehensive agreement to end the fighting in the area. Hezbollah, which Western nations view as a terrorist organization, has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces inside Syria since 2013. Lebanon’s main political factions are bitterly divided over the war in neighboring Syria, and many would fiercely object to any direct cooperation with Assad’s government.