Lebanese soldiers yesterday renewed fire on Islamic State (IS) group positions on the country’s eastern border with Syria after capturing a third of the territory held by militants 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 captured about 30km2 of territory, a military spokesman said.
“That is around a third of the area controlled by the terrorists,” Brigadier General Nazih Jreij said late on Saturday.
Jreij said 20 Islamic State fighters had been killed in the clashes and 10 Lebanese soldiers wounded.
Lebanese soldiers raised the Spanish flag on a hilltop captured from the Islamic State group on Saturday in a tribute to the victims of those attacks, the army said.
A military official said troops yesterday captured several more hills in the outskirts of Jurud Ras Baalbek, adding that Lebanonese army commander General Joseph Aoun had visited areas regained from the extremists.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Lebanon’s military estimated about 600 Islamic State fighters were present in the Jurud Ras Baalbek and Jurud al-Qaa areas, controlling about 120km2 of territory before Saturday’s advances.
Lebanon’s National News Agency yesterday reported soldiers were firing heavy artillery and rockets at Islamic State positions in Jurud Ras Baalbek.
The army’s assault comes after the Hezbollah waged its own campaign against militants operating in another border area south of the current battle.
The group’s six-day offensive against the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in the Jurud Arsal area ended with a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday said that while his country had foiled Western designs to topple him, his army had not won defeated insurgents and the fight was continuing.
In an televised address, al-Assad said that even though there were signs of victory after six-and-a-half years of civil war, the “battle continues, and where we go later and it becomes possible to talk about victory ... that’s a different matter.”
He said that military support from Iran, Russia and the Hezbollah in Lebanon had allowed battelfield gains and reduced the burdens of war.
In related news, the operation to retake the Syrian town of Tal Afar, 80km west of Mosul, from the Islamic State group began yesterday morning, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.
Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets of Islamic State group territory in Iraq after victory was declared last month in Mosul.
“The city of Tal Afar will be liberated and will join all the liberated cities,” al-Abadi said in an address to the nation broadcast on state television early yesterday.
Al-Abadi said his message to Islamic State fighters was: “You either surrender or die.”
A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni Muslim insurgents, Tal Afar, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Islamic State’s most senior commanders.
The city was cut off from the rest of Islamic State-held territory in June. It is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shiite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.
Hours before al-Abadi’s announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city telling the population to take precautions.
“Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing,” the leaflets read.
About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to US and Iraqi military commanders.
They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat and bombardments.
Additional reporting by Reuters and AP
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