Beirut
(AFP) - The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement announced Wednesday
that the powerful Shiite militia had begun to fight the Islamic State
jihadist group along the rugged Syrian-Lebanese border.
An image grab taken from
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV on June 10, 2015 shows Hassan Nasrallah, the
head of Lebanon's Hezbollah, announcing that the powerful Shiite militia
had begun to fight the Islamic State along the rocky Syrian-Lebanese
border (AFP Photo/)
Beirut (AFP) - The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement
announced Wednesday that the powerful Shiite militia had begun to fight
the Islamic State jihadist group along the rugged Syrian-Lebanese
border.
"The battle with Daesh in Qalamun has begun, in the
eastern (mountain) chain and on the Syrian-Lebanese border," Hassan
Nasrallah said in a televised speech, referring to IS by its Arabic
acronym.
He said fierce clashes had left dozens of IS fighters dead, and that Hezbollah had lost men, without specifying a number.
"They (IS) began the fighting, but we will continue the battle," Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah
has intervened militarily in Syria on behalf of President Bashar
al-Assad, saying it is protecting Lebanon from the threat of jihadists
in the neighbouring country.
IS has made a series of major gains
in Syria and Iraq in recent months, one year after it declared an
Islamic "caliphate" over areas under its control.
Nasrallah vowed Wednesday to see the fight with the jihadists through.
"I assure you that defeat will come to these men. It's a matter of time, and we are not in a hurry," he said.
Hezbollah's
official television station Al-Manar, which aired Nasrallah's remarks,
had earlier broadcast video footage of bodies lying on rocky terrain,
saying they were IS fighters.
"These are fighters' corpses and the
spoils that the resistance (Hezbollah) has seized during clashes
outside the town of Ras Baalbek," a town near Lebanon's border with
Syria, the channel said.
Nasrallah said Wednesday that Syria's
army and Hezbollah were in control of Qalamun's major mountains and
hills after defeating IS's jihadist rival and Al-Qaeda's Syria branch,
Al-Nusra Front.
The joint Hezbollah-Syrian army offensive to clear
the border area of rebel militias began about a month ago, and
Nasrallah has included updates on the assault in numerous televised
speeches since then.
No comments:
Post a Comment