Lebanese Army, Hezbollah Target Daesh Terrorists on Northeastern Border
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Lebanese Army and Hezbollah fighters pounded terrorist posts Saturday along the country's northeastern border for the third day in a row.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that the army is intensely shelling the movement of gunmen on the outskirts of the border towns of Arsal and Ras Baalbek with heavy artillery, the Daily Star reports.
Separately, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar channel said in a newsflash that the party’s fighters targeted a Daesh (ISIL) post in Kherbet Beit Al-Agha on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek.
It added that the shelling destroyed the position and inflicted heavy losses in the ranks of the armed militant group.
The Lebanese army and Hezbollah have been targeting Daesh posts along the country's northeastern mountain range since Thursday, when the military clashed with extremist gunmen on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, killing five and wounding several others.
Thursday’s pre-dawn clashes also left a Lebanese soldier dead and four others wounded.
The army has frequently clashed with Daesh and Nusra Front militants holed up on the outskirts of Lebanon’s northeastern border. However, it rarely issues statements over the matter.
The military operates a string of bases and observation posts in the area, from Naamat on the northern border to just south of the town of Arsal, providing a strong defensive line against the militants in the mountains to the east.
There are an estimated 3,000 militants in the northeastern mountain chain, most of whom are either affiliated with Daesh, which is mainly deployed near Ras Baalbek, or with the Nusra Front, which operates further south, across from Arsal.