All-out battle in Qalamoun has not yet started
The Daily Star/May. 11, 2015
BEIRUT: An all-out military confrontation in the Qalamoun mountains has not yet begun despite the ongoing clashes pitting Hezbollah and the Syrian army against Islamist militants, a senior source familiar with military developments in the region said Sunday. Although Hezbollah and Syrian troops have made major military gains since they began the campaign in Syria’s Qalamoun region last week, including seizing strategic hills and taking control of Assal al-Ward and Al-Juba, “the circumstances are not yet conducive for an all-out battle,” the source told The Daily Star.
The source pointed out that ISIS, whose militants are entrenched on the rugged outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, some 6 kilometers away from the theater of military operations, has not so far joined the battle. Summing up the ongoing fighting in Qalamoun between Hezbollah and Syrian troops and rebels led by the Nusra Front, Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, the source said: “What is happening now is a gradual nibbling of the [Qalamoun] hills and moving forward with steady steps.”
According to the source, Hezbollah’s attack in Qalamoun has foiled the militants’ strategic goal to cut off the Beirut-Damascus highway, which is “an extremely important and sensitive point for the Syrian regime and Hezbollah because it is a vital lifeline between the Lebanese and Syrian capitals.” The Syrian army and Hezbollah made further advances on the outskirts of the village of Al-Juba, about 8 kilometers northeast of the Lebanese border town of Tfail, seizing control of 40 kilometers, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported Sunday.
It said three training camps belonging to the Nusra Front on the outskirts of Al-Juba were destroyed during clashes, which resulted in the killing of more than 20 Nusra militants while others have fled. Heavy machine guns mounted on four military vehicles, tens of posts inside caves and military tents were also destroyed during the fighting, Al-Manar TV said. It added that several explosive charges and mines were also dismantled.
Explaining the situation in the Qalamoun region, a military source familiar with Hezbollah’s campaign told The Daily Star: “The hills stretching from the [Lebanese border town] of Brital to deep into Qalamoun have become under full control of Hezbollah and the Syrian army. They have been fully linked and supply routes to the [armed] groups [in Zabadani, Serghaya and Hafaya in rural Damascus] have been severed.”
“It can be said that the town of Zabadani, where a good number of fighters are entrenched, is nearly besieged,” the source said. Although the Nusra Front said in its Twitter account that its fighters had made “a tactical withdrawal” following Hezbollah’s attack in the Qalamoun mountains after causing heavy losses among Hezbollah fighters, a Salafist sheikh who maintains contacts with the Nusra Front and ISIS, spoke about the fighting in the region.
“Half of the Nusra Front fighters in Qalamoun, estimated at around 4,000 fighters, have recently withdrawn following Hezbollah’s invasion of their outposts and bases in rocky caves in rugged areas in view of the lack of sufficient experience in direct fighting,” the sheikh told The Daily Star, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the Nusra fighters’ expertise was confined to making explosive charges and rigging vehicles with bombs.
“This has led to the quick collapse [of Nusra fighters]. Furthermore, the [Nusra] emir Abu Malek al-Tali is not the one who fully oversees all of Qalamoun’s areas where his deputy, Abu Massab [a Syrian] and Abu Sahib [a Lebanese] are tasked with directing the armed groups. Both men do not have sufficient military experience,” the sheikh said. According to the sheikh, ISIS fighters are holed up on the outskirts of Arsal. He added that ISIS commanders have been brought from Iraq in preparation for the confrontation with Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi said the Lebanese military would not “slip” into the battle in the Qalamoun region. Kahwagi assured security officials during a meeting Saturday that the Army “is ready to confront any assault on Lebanese sovereignty and push back any infiltration [attempt] by militants,” Al-Hayat newspaper reported. However, he also emphasized that the military’s responsibility “is limited to dealing with attacks on Lebanese territory,” saying it will not “slip into participation,” it said. Quoting Army sources, the paper said that despite the military escalation near Lebanon’s borders, Lebanese officials were assured that “the security situation is under control.”
