8 Hizbullah Fighters Killed During Clashes in Outskirts of Brital, Attack Was on 10 of Its Positions
Hizbullah repulsed on Sunday an attack by al-Nusra Front on ten of its positions and they didn't lose any of their positions, but Ain Saat for more than an hour.
Hizbullah managed to thwart the attack on its other positions. Eight of its fighters were killed, while al-Nusra Front stated that it attacked a position and killed eleven fighters of Hizbullah.
Al-Nusra Front posted a video Monday afternoon showing pictures of its fighters storming positions for Hizbullah while naming it "The battle of revenge for our refugee brothers whose tents were burned in Arsal.”
Al-Nusra was referring to the burning of the refugee camps in Arsal two weeks ago during raids by the army to arrest suspects.
The army assured it opened fire on the suspects for setting the tents in the camp on fire, while al-Nusra insists it was the army who put the fire on.
The video begins with pictures of gunmen in cars in the outskirts then gunmen walking to “Iran's party,” as they said.
The video continued to show militants fighting and screaming “Allahu Akbar.” Then the it ends with pictures of Brital and saying that “the fighters are in the outskirts.”
LBCI stated on Monday afternoon that: “What had happened is a comprehensive attack on 10 Hizbullah positions in the outskirts from Ain Saat to Younine that lasted for almost five hours.”
“The clashes were on two axes the first in Brital – Hamme and the second in Younine – Nahle," it added.
LBCI quoted a Hizbullah source as saying: “The attack did not succeed and its positions along the roads are under its control.”
“Various types of weapons were used in the process, during which Hizbullah fired artillery on all of the gunmen's positions,” it added. LBCI revealed that the hills where they clashed had rugged areas.
The battle was very violent and the reinforcements from Brital to Hamme took more than an hour to recover Ain Saat position.
“The snipers from al-Nusra Front are strongly active from hill to hill and any moving target is in danger,” LBCI quoted Hizbullah fighters at the Ain Saat position as saying.
Al-Nusra Front did not report anything until Monday morning.
It wrote on its Twitter: "Your brothers and fighters Aassal al-Ward attacked a position for Hiz Alat al-Irani (Hizbullah) in the outskirts of Brital and killed more than 11 of them and seized weapons.”
It also published pictures of dead men covered with blood and claimed they were Hizbullah fighters.
Sources close to Hizbullah stated: "Martyrs have ascended while doing their sacred line of duty in the outskirts of Brital.”
“The martyrs are: Hamza Aaqsa, Mohammed Abdo Rabah, Mohammed Qassem al-Qalamuni, Fouad Murtada, Maher Zoaiter, Ahmed Hussein Saleh, Nizar Tarraf, and Ammar Assaf,” it added.
According to al-Manar television, Hizbullah killed dozens of militants and wounded others in Ain al-Saat and was able to take them out of the eastern mountain range.
A suicide car bomber killed on 20 September three people at a checkpoint manned by Hizbullah in the district of Baalbek that lies in eastern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported.
During the last few months several confrontations took place in the outskirts of Brital-Baalbek between Hizbullah and groups of gunmen from Syria. Hizbullah exists in several military points in the outskirts of the border that are hard to reach.
Z.A.
Y.R.
Source: Naharnet
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