Hezbollah strike Qalamoun jihadis with help of drone
The Daily Star/May. 27, 2015
BEIRUT: A Hezbollah missile annihilated a group of at least three Islamist militants in Syria’s Qalamoun region along the border with Lebanon Wednesday after being spotted by a drone, Al-Manar reported. “All members of a group of Nusra takfiri [militants] were killed in an ambush by the resistance” between the outskirts of the Lebanese towns of Arsal and Nahleh on the Syrian side of the border, the Hezbollah-run channel said. It said the jihadi group was planning to carry out a “terrorist attack” from quarries south of Arsal.
But the station later aired drone footage showing missiles striking a militant vehicle and operations room with pinpoint accuracy. The HiDef video showed three militants exiting a white SUV and running toward a nearby operations room.
The video then cuts to show a missile striking the operations room with one militant standing just outside, and the other two believed to be inside. The blast obliterated the structure, sending its roof launching into the air.
It was unclear if other militants were already in the room when it was bombed. The video also showed the group targeting a black military vehicle. The report did not say if anyone was inside the vehicle when it was targeted.
After the operation, Hezbollah fighter engaged in “fierce clashes” with the jihadis and killed “all of them,” Al-Manar said, showing footage of the battle. The channel said the group belonged to Nusra’s Ghuraba Brigade, adding that a field commander was among those killed.
The report comes one day after a security source revealed that six Hezbollah fighters were killed in Qalamoun as they attempted to take the Tallaja hilltop from Nusra militants earlier this week. The source said they were killed in sniper fire Monday.
But Hezbollah managed to take control of two other hills after clashes that left about 30 jihadis dead. Al-Manar Tuesday aired a report from the outskirts of the Syrian town of Flita, saying that areas surrounding the town had fallen under the total control of Hezbollah and the Syrian army, exposing routes used by jihadis to gunfire. Monday’s deaths brought the number of Hezbollah fighters killed in the Qalamoun offensive since it began on May 4 to at least 22. The number of jihadi casualties since the start of the operation is unclear, but is likely to be in the hundreds
Report: Militants Killed in Hizbullah Ambush on Outskirts of Arsal
Naharnet /A group of jihadists affiliated to al-Nusra Front were killed Wednesday in an ambush conducted by Hizbullah in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal. The group was allegedly spotted with surveillance drones that were overflying the outskirts of Arsal and Nahle, Hizbullah’s mouthpiece al-Manar said. The TV station reported that the group was seeking to carry out a terror act in al-Kasarat area, south of Arsal. An al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front field commander was killed in the ambush and a military vehicle was destroyed. In the past weeks, Hizbullah said it has secured around a third of the Qalamoun region, on both the Lebanese and Syrian sides of the porous border. The area of roughly 1,000 square kilometers is a landscape of imposing hillsides riddled with caves, and open valleys full of scrub and wildflowers. The fate of Qalamoun is particularly important for Hizbullah, which has long defended its intervention in Syria alongside President Bashar Assad’s troops as key to the security of Lebanon. Hizbullah cites that fear of militants from the Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front sweeping through Shiite and Christian villages in diverse Lebanon as one of the main reasons for their involvement in Syria. Some observers however fear the Qalamoun offensive could prompt Islamist militants to launch attacks in Shiite areas of Lebanon itself, including Beirut’s southern suburbs. The IS and Nusra Front have infiltrated Lebanon in the past, and last August briefly overran Arsal, taking with them several soldiers and policemen hostage. Four of whom have been executed.
Ten Hezbollah fighters die in Syria as party makes more gains
The Daily Star/May. 27, 2015 /BEIRUT: Six Hezbollah fighters and around 30 jihadis were killed in clashes in Syria’s Qalamoun border region before party militants managed to seize control of a new hilltop, a security source said Tuesday, adding that four others died fighting in other parts of Syria. Speaking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, the source said the fighters were slain Monday as they attempted to take control of the Tallaja hilltop. He added that three other Hezbollah militants were killed in the northwestern province of Idlib and one in Aleppo.
Hezbollah confirmed Tuesday the death of nine of its fighters. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV also said that party fighters captured Al-Qubaa and Al-Naffar hills, northeast of the outskirts of Lebanon’s Nahleh village, without reporting casualties. Monday’s deaths brought the number of Hezbollah fighters killed in the Qalamoun offensive since it began on May 4 to at least 22. The number of jihadi casualties since the start of the operation is unclear, but is likely to be in the hundreds.
Hezbollah and the Syrian army have destroyed dozens of jihadi bases and driven the Nusra-led militants north toward the outskirts of Lebanon’s northeastern town of Arsal, where Nusra and ISIS have established a foothold. Al-Manar also aired a report from the outskirts of the Syrian town of Flita, claiming that it had fallen under the total control of Hezbollah and the Syrian army. Al-Manar said that from the outskirts of Flita, the allies could now target several routes used by jihadis with gunfire. Syrian National Coalition Vice President Nagham al-Ghaderi said Syria-based jihadi militants would not allow Hezbollah fighters or the Syrian army to control Qalamoun, saying the two “will die” in the border region. “The men [jihadis] in Qalamoun are not easy. They are the hardest in the Syrian revolution and the armed struggle,” Ghaderi told Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai in remarks published Tuesday.
“Hezbollah’s killing will take place in Qalamoun and no force – be it Hezbollah or the [Syrian] regime – can put its hand on the [Qalamoun] region,” Ghaderi warned. Ghaderi said the Syrian National Coalition was “not against dialogue in politics, but the revolution is the ceiling and we will not accept incomplete or fragmented achievements.” Ghaderi’s comments came after Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed in a speech Sunday that the Qalamoun offensive would continue until Lebanon’s border was secure. Nasrallah also warned that his party would take matters into its own hands if the Lebanese government did not liberate Arsal’s outskirts from jihadis.
The Future Bloc slammed Nasrallah over his “arrogant” and “authoritarian” speech. “The bloc condemns in the strongest terms the arrogant and authoritarian speech by Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, who announced a unilateral decision to engage in a battle in Arsal, hijacking the sovereignty of the state and the responsibility of the government,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting. It accused Nasrallah of violating the Constitution and the National Pact, and ignoring the readiness of the Lebanese Army to protect the country’s borders.
Also Tuesday, Hezbollah held funerals for several fighters who fell in Syria’s battles. Adnan Siblini, who died while fighting jihadis in the outskirts of Nahleh, was laid to rest in the southern town of Ghazieh amid tight security measures. “I will not weep for him, I consider this his wedding. He fell in defense of our dignity,” said Safa, Adnan’s youngest sister, as she stood near his coffin surrounded by other women in their house. Safa wore her brother’s military outfit. “We will fight takfiri groups and defeat them sooner or later,” she told The Daily Star.
Elsewhere, the party held funerals for Commander Ghassan Fakih in the southern village of Tiri and fighter Ali Saleh in Aita Shaab, also in the south. “Death to ISIS, death to Nusra Front,” mourners chanted. In the Marjayoun village of Mohaibib, Mohammad Sami Jaber was laid to rest, while Ahmad Mohsen’s funeral was held in the village of Blida, also in Marjayoun.
Separately, tensions remained high between the rival jihadi groups in the outskirts of Arsal. A separate security source said Syrian national Hussam Mrad, who is reportedly a member of ISIS, was kidnapped late Monday from a Syrian refugee camp in Arsal and taken to the town’s outskirts. Mrad was abducted hours after ISIS kidnapped Syrian national Ahmad Saifeddine, a Nusra militant. Both groups have been engaged in fierce battles against each other over the past weeks.
