Lebanese soldiers renewed fire on Daesh group positions on the country’s eastern border with Syria on Sunday after liberating a third of the territory held by the terrorists in the area.
Lebanon’s Army began its operation in the Jurud Ras Baalbek and Jurud al-Qaa region early on Saturday, and in the first day liberated around 30 square kilometers (11 miles square) of territory, a military spokesman said, AFP reported.
“That is around a third of the area controlled by the terrorists,” Brigadier General Nazih Jreij said late Saturday.
Jreij said 20 Daesh members had been killed in the clashes, and 10 Lebanese soldiers wounded.
Lebanon’s battle against Daesh comes as the terrorist group faces assaults in both neighboring Syria and Iraq, where the Iraqi government early Sunday announced an offensive on the group’s bastion of Tal Afar.
The attack also comes after Daesh claimed several international attacks, including twin car ramming incidents in Spain that killed 14 people.
Lebanese soldiers raised the Spanish flag on a hilltop captured from Daesh on Saturday in a tribute to the victims of those attacks, the army said.
Lebanon’s military estimated around 600 Daesh members were present in the Jurud Ras Baalbek and Jurud al-Qaa areas, controlling around 120 square kilometers of territory before Saturday’s advances.
On Sunday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported soldiers were firing heavy artillery and rockets at Daesh positions in Jurud Ras Baalbek.
The army’s assault comes after Lebanon’s powerful resistance movement Hezbollah waged its own campaign against terrorists operating in another border area south of the current battle.
Hezbollah said Saturday it had launched a simultaneous operation against Daesh from the Syrian side of the border, where the group’s fighters are battling alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s Army against terrorists.
Hezbollah’s War Media outlet said its fighters and the Syrian Army had on Saturday “managed to liberate 87 square kilometers of the total area controlled by the Daesh”… in western Qalamun region of Syria.
Security along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria has long been a concern, and in 2014 terrorists invaded the town of Arsal and kidnapped 30 Lebanese soldiers and police.
Four were executed by their captors while a fifth died of his wounds.
Sixteen were released in a prisoner swap in December 2015, but another nine solders are believed to remain in Daesh hands.
It is not clear if they are alive or not.