Syrian rebels and refugees leave Lebanese border enclave under new arrangement

Repatriation of rebels and refugees from a border enclave in Lebanon to Syrian territory began yesterday, Hizbollah reported.

About 300 rebels from a group called Saraya Ahl Al Sham and about 3,000 refugees are to leave Lebanon under a deal that followed an assault by the Lebanese Shiite militants on militants last month. A convoy of 40 buses has left for the Syrian border, Hizbollah said.

Their departure will leave an ISIL enclave as the last militant stronghold straddling the border near the Lebanese town of Arsal.

The transfer was the second after Jabhat Fatah Al Sham fighters and refugees were returned to Syria last month.

On Friday, the Lebanese security official overseeing the arrangements, Gen Abbas Ibrahim, said a group of civilians would go to Assal Al Ward, an area just across the border from Arsal, held by the Syrian government.

The fighters and their families will go to another part of Syria that he did not identify. Hizbollah last week said they would go to the rebel-held town of Al Ruhaiba in the East Qalamoun region.

Hizbollah has played a major role in Syria, supporting president Bashar Al Assad.

Last month, the Shiite organisation defeated rebels in insurgent enclaves near the Syrian border and forced Jabhat Fatah Al Sham, Al Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate, to leave.

About 7,000 refugees went with the extremist group for a rebel-held part of north-west Syria. The Lebanese army is expected to launch an assault on ISIL pockets in the same area soon.

That would end a period of several years in which armed groups from inside Syria have held positions in the hills around Arsal, in what has been the most serious spillover of the war into Lebanon.

More than 1 million Syrian refugees are sheltering in Lebanon. Hizbollah has stepped up calls for the Lebanese government to engage directly with Damascus over their return.

The opposition in Syria has criticised previous movements of civilians under ceasefire deals as amounting to the forced transfer of populations, something Damascus denies.

The growing number of evacuation deals from besieged rebel areas inside Syria has helped Mr Al Assad to solidify his hold in several parts of the country.