Hizbollah chief ready to battle ISIL on the Lebanon-Syria border
Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said he is ready to launch an offensive against ISIL on the Lebanon-Syria border, days after forcing Al Qaeda’s former Syrian branch from the area.
On Friday, Mr Nasrallah also demanded news within days about the fate of nine Lebanese soldiers kidnapped by ISIL in 2014.
He said eliminating ISIL from the mountainous area known as Jurud along the border “is in the interests of both Lebanon and Syria”.
The Lebanese army would decide when to launch the offensive, Mr Nasrallah said, adding that “from the other side the Syrian army and Hizbollah are ready”.
He said that if the battle against ISIL were launched from Syrian and Lebanese territory, “that will lead to victory and be less costly for everyone”.
“The Lebanese and Syrians will come at you from all sides,” Mr Nasrallah warned the extremists
Lebanon reported yesterday that the military was “shelling heavily gunmen’s areas in Jurud Ras Baalbek and Al Kaa”.
Mr Nasrallah said that ISIL held about 296 square kilometres on both sides of the border, of which 141 sq km are in eastern Lebanon.
His Shiite movement is a key ally of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad and has been fighting alongside regime forces since the conflict started in 2011.
On Thursday, almost 8,000 Syrian refugees and militants from Al Qaeda’s former Syrian branch were taken by bus back to Syria after a ceasefire deal with Hizbollah.
In exchange, the militants released five Hizbollah fighters they had seized during clashes in Syria.
The swap was part of a broader deal announced last week between the two sides, which ended six days of fighting in the Jurud Arsal region of the border area.
The Lebanese army did not take part in the fighting between Hizbollah and the former Al Qaeda affiliate now known as Jabhat Fatah Al Sham, but it set up defensives and co-ordinated with the Shiite militia.
Mr Nasrallah on Friday said negotiations that led to the ceasefire with the militants were possible after being approved by the Lebanese and Syrian leaderships.