Report: ISIL Mobilizing along Lebanon's Border, Preparing for 'Spring Battle'
Fighters linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian al-Qalamoun are reportedly mobilizing and moving closer to the border with Lebanon ahead of a battle along the country's eastern border.
Lebanese and Syrian security sources said in comments published on Tuesday in al-Akhbar newspaper that ISIL fighters are moving “from eastern al-Qalamoun to its west” in preparation for a battle in the area in the spring after the snow melts.
Information obtained by the daily pointed out that “militants assaulted a Syrian army post two weeks ago in Deir Attiya (in eastern al-Qalamoun) as a camouflage to smuggle around 1,000 fighters to west al-Qalamoun” near the Lebanese border.
The newspaper elaborated that “ISIL fighters' performance in the latest battles with the Lebanese army indicates that the militants are saving ammunition and rockets.”
The report estimated that either ISIL fighters are facing shortage in supply of weaponry, or saving their munition for the upcoming battle against the Lebanese army in the country's east.
The Lebanese army frequently clashes with the militants in their hideouts near the Syria border.
The IS, which controls several areas in Syria and Iraq, aims to spread to Lebanon as its fighters position in the outskirts of Bekaa towns bordering Syria and the Lebanese army is in adamant efforts to stop their efforts to infiltrate the country.
ISIL and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front are battling in Qalamoun the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizbullah forces alongside each other, with support from some smaller Islamist rebel groups.
Al-Akhbar reported that the first battle is expected to erupt on the outskirts of the Bekaa town of al-Qaa and another on the outskirts of Brital.
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Source: Agence France Presse
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