Report: Hizbullah Sets 'Zero Hour' to Oust Arsal Militants
Political parties close to Hizbullah's decision-makers said the party has “set the zero hour for a joint military operation, alongside groups of special units in the Syrian army, against terrorist and extremist groups in the outskirts of Arsal,” the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Saturday.
The daily quoted the sources as saying that Hizbullah has taken this decision in light of “stalled negotiations it had directly sponsored with a Syrian (mediator) Mohammed Rahmah, aka Abu Taha al-Asali, who brokered with leaders of al-Nusra Front and Saraya al-Sham, the return of hundreds of (displaced) Syrians to the town of Assal al-Wared on the Syrian side.”
Hizbullah has therefore “set July 15 for the start of the military operation after Abu Taha had difficulty convincing Abu Malek al-Talli, the top official of the jihadist al-Nusra Front group in the border region between Syria and Lebanon, to leave the outskirts and head to the Syrian side.”
According to information, “al-Talli has set some demands” in return for his group to leave the outskirts including “securing his transport to Syria's Idlib in addition to a list of conditions which obstructed Abu Taha's mission.”
As for the Islamic State group, “it is not willing to negotiate,” its evacuation “and insists on keeping its militants in the outskirts of Arsal because it has no safe place to resort to in Syria,” the daily quoted the unnamed sources.
They added that “Abu Taha did not lose hope of reaching tangible results that would accelerate the movement of more displaced people to the villages of Qalamoun. Hizbullah needs to make it succeed in order to pass a message to the international community that it is not a partner in the sectarian sorting which is still happening in a number of Syrian areas through the displacement of the Sunni population.”
But, the sources added that “the suspension of negotiations until further notice has prompted Hizbullah to set the zero hour to launch its attack to clean the outskirts of terrorist and extremist groups, taking advantage of the army's latest security sweep in two refugees encampments in Arsal that resulted in foiling suicide bombings against Lebanese regions.”
The sources did not rule out the possibility that through its operation in the outskirts, Hizbullah has “a goal of sending a political message to Moscow and Washington that any understanding between them must involve Iran because of its impact on thousands of fighters from outside Syria who came to defend the regime with military and material support from Tehran.”
Source: Naharnet
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