Report: Hizbullah Fighters Move into Syria ahead of Fierce Battle
Hizbullah mobilized hundreds of fighters in Syria during the past few days, al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Sunday.
The daily said that “hundreds of Hizbullah fighters were transported into Syria in small vehicles.”
The development prompted observers to express fear from the eruption of fierce battles along the border with Syria as the weather improves.
Media reports said recently that fighters linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian al-Qalamoun are mobilizing and moving closer to the border with Lebanon ahead of a battle along the country's eastern border.
ISIL fighters are reportedly moving “from eastern al-Qalamoun to its west” in preparation for a battle in the area in the spring after the snow melts.
The Lebanese army frequently clashes with the militants in their hideouts near the Syria border.
When the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, the Lebanese eastern border town of Arsal served as a key conduit for refugees, rebels and wounded people fleeing strife-torn Syria, but the Lebanese army stepped up it's security measures in the village to stop infiltrations.
It was overran in August by gunmen belonging to the two al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who withdrew from the town by taking several soldiers and policemen hostage. Four have been so far executed.
The IS, which controls several areas in Syria and Iraq, aims to spread to Lebanon as its fighters position in the outskirts of Bekaa towns bordering Syria and the Lebanese army is in adamant efforts to stop their efforts to infiltrate the country.
ISIL and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front are battling in Qalamoun the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizbullah forces alongside each other, with support from some smaller Islamist rebel groups.
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