We stand with you, Spain

Lebanese soldiers wave the flags of Lebanon and Spain to show their solidarity after Thursday’s terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils. They were standing on Mkheirameh Mountain, recaptured in the ongoing campaign against ISIL.

The Lebanese army raised a Spanish flag alongside their own on a Lebanese-Syrian border hill that was seized from ISIL on Saturday, in a tribute to the victims of ISIL-claimed attacks in Spain.

“A salute from our troops fighting ISIL in Jurud Ras Baalbeck to the victims [of the attacks] in Spain and the whole world,” said a statement.

Three soldiers were killed yesterday as the military continued its offensive in the mountainous region, seizing new hills from ISIL.

“A landmine exploded in Jurud Arsal yesterday afternoon, resulting in the death of three soldiers and the serious injury of one,” the Lebanese army said.

On Saturday, the army launched its biggest military operation against ISIL, which in 2014 gained a foothold along Lebanon’s border with Syria. They captured 30 square kilometres of territory.

“That is about a third of the area controlled by the terrorists,” said Brig Gen Nazih Jreij.

The offensive in Lebanon came after ISIL claimed several international attacks, including the car-ramming of pedestrians in Barcelona, Spain, that killed 14 people.

Lebanon’s military estimated about 600 ISIL fighters were present in the Jurud Ras Baalbek and Jurud Al Qaa areas, controlling about 120 sq km of territory before Saturday’s advances.

Yesterday, soldiers were reported firing heavy artillery and rockets at ISIL positions in Jurud Ras Baalbek.

The army’s assault came after Lebanon’s powerful Shiite militant group Hizbollah waged its own campaign against jihadists operating in another border area south of the current battle.

The group’s six-day offensive against ISIL and Al Qaeda’s former affiliate in the Jurud Arsal area ended with a ceasefire.

The agreement led to about 8,000 refugees and jihadists being moved to a jihadist-held area of north-west Syria in return for the release of five captured Hizbollah fighters.

Hizbollah said on Saturday that it had launched a simultaneous operation against ISIL from the Syrian side of the border, where the group’s fighters are battling alongside president Bashar Al Assad’s army against rebels.

Lebanon’s army denied any co-ordination with Hizbollah or the Syrian army.

Hizbollah said its fighters and the Syrian army had on Saturday “managed to liberate 87 sq km of the total area controlled by ISIL in the western Qalamun region” of Syria.

Soldiers were yesterday reported to be firing heavy artillery and rockets at ISIL positions in Jurud Ras Baalbek