Fierce Flita Clashes Leave 5 Hizbullah Fighters, 6 Nusra Militants Dead
The al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front has attacked posts controlled by Hizbullah and the Syrian Army in the town of Fleita in the Syrian Qalamun region on Saturday, killing five Hizbullah members and several Syrian soldiers while sustaining six deaths.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Saturday that “fierce clashes are ongoing since early morning between Hizbullah and the Syrian Army on one side and al-Nusra Front on the other in Qalamun's Flita outskirts.”
According to LBCI TV, al-Nusra Front militants attacked the positions overnight.
Al-Nusra stated on the twitter account of its Qalamun branch that “the Front took control of Hizubllah's al-Masroub post in Flita's outskirts.”
Hizbullah-run al-Manar TV however denied al-Nusra's claims and reported that “the shelling was focused on al-Masroub post in Flita, but the al-Nusra attack was not surprising.”
“The clashes went on for hours but the attack was eventually repulsed and the gunmen retreated to Tal al-Hariq, after airstrikes by the Syrian army on al-Nusra's posts in Khirbat Mira and Wadi Martbiyyeh, which left 6 dead and 17 injured."
Reports also stated that Hizbullah members Ali Bakri, Fadl Faqih, Hamza Ammar, Mohammed al-Hajj Hassan and Hadi Hassan Nour al-Din were killed in the battles.
Meanwhile, al-Nusra announced on Twitter that its fighters planted landmines near posts controlled by Hizbullah and the Lebanese army.
“The engineering team planted mines in the areas near the Iranian (Hizbullah) and the Nusayri (Syrian) army in Qalamun,” the group said in a tweet.
LBCI later reported that heavy clashes erupted between Hizbullah and al-Nusra Front on the outskirts of Flita.
Flita is just across the Lebanese border to Arsal, a crossing point 20 kilometers to the northwest which rebels and refugees have used regularly.
Hizbullah is a close ally of the Syrian regime and has been fighting alongside government troops against an uprising there.
Its involvement has helped the army to recapture key territory, but drawn the ire of many in Lebanon.
The Lebanese army has been battling the Syria-based Islamist militants who are entrenched on the porous border between Lebanon and Syria since several months.
In August, they overran Arsal and engaged in deadly fighting with the army. Around 20 troops were killed while at least 35 soldiers and policemen were taken hostage by the retreating militants.
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