Hizbullah Gearing Up for All-Out Offensive on Zabadani
Hizbullah is getting ready for a battle in the Syrian border town of Zabadani after entering the second stage of its offensive against jihadists, sources said.
The sources told As Safir daily published on Thursday that Hizbullah's priority currently lies in clearing Zabadani of militants.
It is one of the largest towns in Syria's Qalamoun region that lies near the border with Lebanon.
“Human, logistics and military needs for the battle have already been placed,” they said.
Battles have been raging in the past days between Hizbullah and jihadists on Zabadani's outskirts before the all-out Offensive.
Hizbullah sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that the fighting between the party's members and militants from al-Nusra Font and Islamic State group in Qalamoun and on the outskirts of the Lebanese northeastern border town of Arsal recently subsided “because the first stage of the plan ended.”
That plan aimed at launching strong attacks on the jihadists to weaken them. Hizbullah achieved that objective, they said.
The second stage, which could last around six months, lies in clearing the entire area of terrorist groups to stop them from reorganizing themselves, the sources told Asharq al-Awsat.
As Safir's sources said that so far Hizbullah has controlled more than 105 square kilometers of land in Arsal's outskirts and has launched efforts to gain control of the rest of the area where terrorist groups are located.
That area is more than 140 square kilometers, they said.
G.K.
D.A.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/183668 |