Daesh terrorists under siege along Syria, Lebanon border: Hezbollah chief

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks on Thursday when addressing supporters of the resistance movement through a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital, Beirut  

Nasrallah also touched upon the Lebanese army’s counter-terrorism operations against Takfiri militants in Ras Baalbek village and Christian-majority town of al-Qaa, located in the Bekaa region of northern Lebanon and on the border with Syria.

At the beginning of his address, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader said main goals of anti-Daesh operations included to secure Lebanon’s border with Syria and also to determine the fate of Lebanese soldiers taken into captivity by terrorist.

He added that another goal of the operation was to gain full control over western border of Lebanon and entirely drive out Daesh terrorists.

Nasrallah noted that 100 square kilometers of land previously under Daesh control has been liberated so far and only 20 square kilometers were under terrorists’ control.

The Hezbollah chief over 160 square kilometers on the Syrian side of the border was under Daesh control.

He noted that the operation actually targeted over 310 square kilometers on the Syrian side of the border, adding that up to today, 270 square kilometers of those areas had been liberated.

He stated that about 40 square kilometers on Syrian side was still under Daesh control.

On August 19, Hezbollah and the Syrian army launched an operation to purge Daesh from Qalamoun, located about 330 kilometers north of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Hezbollah launched a major push on July 21 to clear both sides of Lebanon’s border with Syria of “armed terrorists.”

In August 2014, the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Daesh terrorist groups overran Arsal, killing a number of Lebanese forces. They took 30 soldiers hostage, most of whom have been released.

Since then, Hezbollah and the Lebanese military have been defending Lebanon on the country’s northeastern frontier against foreign-backed terrorist groups from neighboring Syria.

Hezbollah fighters have fended off several Daesh attacks inside Lebanon. They have also been providing assistance to Syrian army forces to counter the ongoing foreign-sponsored militancy.

The movement has accused Israel of supporting Takfiri terrorists operating in the Middle East.

Israel, which continues to occupy Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms and Syria’s Golan Heights, is widely reported to be offering medical help to Takfiri terrorists injured in Syria. In December 2015, British newspaper the Daily Mail said Israel had saved the lives of more than 2,000 Takfiri militants since 2013.