Hizbullah Seizes 'Strategic' Posts in Arsal Outskirts as Moqbel Downplays Reports
Hizbullah made advances Wednesday against the militants of the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, seizing several strategic points, Hizbullah-affiliated al-Manar TV reported.
Hizbullah fighters “seized control of the strategic al-Shurouq hills that overlook al-Rahweh area, Wadi al-Kheil and Wadi Atnin, where al-Nusra's leaders are present, including Abou Malek al-Talli, the emir of al-Nusra in (Syria's) Qalamoun,” al-Manar said.
“The entire plain of al-Rahweh is now in the line of fire of the resistance fighters,” the TV network added.
It said al-Nusra's militants “set their tents ablaze and fled the area en masse” after Hizbullah's fighters advanced towards al-Rahweh.
The party "is encircling the caves and the locations where the armed men of al-Nusra are," al-Manar reported, broadcasting footage of fighters storming a hill and saying it was an assault against jihadists.
A Lebanese security source told AFP that "the clashes are happening for the first time around Arsal," but could not confirm whether Hizbullah had advanced.
The Lebanese army declined to comment on Hizbullah's operations.
"We do not have any comment on this topic. The army protects Arsal and the areas (close to Syria) and has isolated them from where the jihadists are," an army spokesman told AFP.
"We are doing our duty."
Last week, the army intensified its patrols in Arsal "to prevent any attack on the area," the spokesman said.
In the morning, Hizbullah seized the heights of Marj al-Hamra and Shmeis al-Hamra north of the outskirts of the border town of Nahle, according to al-Manar.
The channel said several militants were killed and injured in the battles there.
Hizbullah fighters also controlled the heights of Mrad Ghazi and Harf Wadi al-Hawa on the outskirts of Arsal and advanced toward the strategic Jabal al-Zaroub south of Wadi al-Khayl.
Defense Minister Samir Moqbel denied the media reports in the morning, saying he was informed by the army intelligence that “reports of clashes in Arsal's outskirts are baseless.”
“Entering Arsal is costly and it might leave hundreds dead. The army is patrolling the town after it insulated it from its outskirts,” Moqbel added.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has recently warned that “our people in Baalbek and Hermel” will not tolerate “the presence of a single terrorist in the outskirts of Arsal and the Bekaa,” calling on the state to act against the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front militants who are entrenched in Arsal's peripheries.
Nasrallah's statement drew criticism from al-Mustaqbal movement, which warned against any Hizbullah military action in Arsal.
Sectarian tensions also surged in northern Bekaa after a number of Baalbek and Hermel tribes announced the formation of what they called al-Qalaa Brigade and said they stood ready to intervene militarily in Arsal's outskirts if Hizbullah gives them the greenlight.
Last week, al-Nusra Front chief Abu Mohamed al-Jolani vowed in a televised interview to defeat Hizbullah in al-Qalamoun.
Hizbullah has significantly bolstered the Bashar Assad regime in the mountainous border region between Syria and Lebanon.
In the past weeks, Hizbullah said it has secured around a third of the Qalamoun region.
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 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 the Bekaa as one of the main reasons for its involvement in Syria.
The IS and al-Nusra had infiltrated Lebanon in the past. Last August, they briefly overran Arsal, taking with them several soldiers and policemen hostage of whom four have been executed.
Y.R./H.K.
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