lebanese troops launched an offensive against the ISIS on Saturday close to the Syrian border where the jehadis have been active for several years.
The operation follows one by Shia terror group Hezbollah last month against jihadists in another border area further south. Hezbollah is deeply embroiled in the civil war that has raged in neighbouring Syria since 2011, fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The lebanese Army has sought to keep out of the conflict but has been forced to take action since jehadis of ISIS and then al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front assaulted the border town of Arsal in 2014 and abducted 30 soldiers and police.
“In the name of lebanon, in the name of kidnapped lebanese soldiers, in the name of martyrs of the Army, I announce that operation ‘Dawn of Jurud’ has started,” army chief General Joseph Aoun said on Saturday.
He was referring to two mountainous border areas —Jurud Ras Baalbek and Jurud al-Qaa — where IS has been active. “The Army is confronting the ISIS terrorists to chase them out and recover territory,” Army spokesman General Ali Kanso said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “We have no fear of Daesh.”
Kanso said the Army believed there were around 600 ISIS fighters in the two areas, controlling some 120 square kilometres of territory.