Syrian Army, Hezbollah Poised to Launch Joint Operation in Qalamoun

TEHRAN (defapress) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, have deployed their forces to the western areas of the Qalamoun to take full control of the Lebanon-Syria common border once and for all.

News ID: 65638

Date: 18 August 2017 - 15:30

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army and National Defense Forces (NDF) sent a large convoy of reinforcements to the western slopes of the Qalamoun Mountains to beef up their numbers in the region, the Al-Masdar News reported on Friday.

The primary objective of this offensive will be to expel the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorists from the Jarajeer and Qarah, which they have had control of since 2015.

Once the Daesh is expelled from the Jarajeer and Qarah, the Syrian government will have full control of the Lebanese border for the first time since 2011.

Earlier in July, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gave an ultimatum to the militants along the border near the country’s northeastern area of Arsal to reach an agreement with Syrian officials, warning that it was "high time to end the threat of militant groups in Arsal.”

Later, Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad al-Hariri said the Lebanese army would launch an operation against Takfiri terrorists in Juroud Arsal, noting that the government has given the army the "freedom” to take action.

The Arsal area was hardly hit by the spillover of the Syria crisis in 2014, when the militants managed to overrun the town for a brief period.

Around 45,000 Syrian refugees registered with the UN live in the town, but more are believed to be living in camps in the Jurud area, although their numbers have not been confirmed.