Report: Eyes Turn to Army Battle against IS after Evacuation of Nusra Ends
All eyes turn to the army's expected battle to eliminate the Islamic State group militants from the border towns of al-Qaa and Ras Baablek, after the evacuation of Arsal's outskirts from militants of al-Nusra, media reports said.
A senior military source told al-Joumhouria daily on Thursday that “the Ninth Brigade of the Lebanese army expanded its deployment in the direction of Wadi Hmayyed area and the amusement park,” but added that “the wide deployment in the outskirts and the border between Arsal and Syria does not mean that the mission has begun. It needs some more time.”
However the source stressed that army is “ready for all the tasks entrusted to it.”
A security source told the daily that the “countdown has begun for zero hour which has been decided definitively,” and assured that the army “enjoys a full political cover” in its fight against the IS in al-Qaa and Baalbek.
Extensive consultations between “official Lebanese and non-official security bodies” are underway in preparation for the battle. The “military plan has been set. It is on the verge of implementation,” according to the daily.
An unnamed source following up closely on the negotiations said the battle has two goals one of which is to “clear the region from terrorists, and to uncover the fate of Lebanese servicemen who were abducted by the IS” during the Arsal battle in 2014.
The army has been pounding positions of the jihadist IS group entrenched in the outskirts of the border town of al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek.
The expected confrontation comes after a Hizbullah operation managed on Wednesday to expel militants from al-Nusra Front group from the outskirts of Arsal.
Hizbullah's battle ended with the evacuation of around 7,000 people including Syrian militants and refugees who quit the restive border area between Lebanon and Syria on Wednesday under a ceasefire deal.
The deal, announced last week, ended six days of fighting in the mountainous region of Arsal outskirts between the Hizbullah and fighters from al-Qaida's former Syrian branch.
Arsal's outskirts had been used for years as a hideout by Syrian militants but was also home to an unknown number of refugees seeking shelter from Syria's six-year war.
Al-Nusra Front is the name of the Syrian faction that was previously an al-Qaida affiliate.
Lebanese television stations showed footage from the desolate border area of buses winding their way along dirt roads, waved along by Hizbullah fighters.
The buses headed to the Syrian town of Flita, and then on to the northern province of Aleppo before heading to the opposition-held province of Idlib in the northwest of the country.
A total of 7,777 people including armed men and civilians left under the agreement.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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