Aoun Calls for Meeting With Higher Defense Council

President Michel Aoun invited the Higher Defense Council for a meeting at the Baabda Palace on Tuesday to discuss the security situation in the country, the National News Agency reported.

Aoun's call came as the army gears up to battle the Islamic State militants in eastern Lebanon.

The army has intensified its shelling of the jihadist group’s posts on the outskirts of the eastern border towns of al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek in recent days, amid reports that an army operation to oust IS from the border region has become imminent.

On Sunday, the army fired heavy artillery at the posts of the jihadist IS group in the outskirts of Ras Baalbek and al-Fakiha, reports said.

The army has also seized control of the al-Zunnar Fort, which separates between Wadi Hmayyed and the Shbib area in the northern outskirts of Arsal, the sources said.

The developments follow a Hizbullah offensive that ended the presence of the jihadist al-Nusra Front group in Arsal’s outskirts.