Hezbollah and Army Pincer ISIS Terrorists in Qalamoun Mount

Hezbollah recently launched an offensive against “Islamist” militants that have infiltrated Lebanon’s mountainous Qalamoun region, IB Times reports.

Al-Manar TV station reported today that ISIS militants attempted a counteroffensive targeting the Lebanese Hezbollah positions near the border town of Ras Baalbek.

The assailants were however pushed back, suffering numerous casualties and losing many vehicles during the clashes, the broadcaster said.

At the same time, the Lebanese army was also taking part in skirmishes in Qalamoun, pounding the ISIS with heavy artillery and rocket launchers around Ras Baalbek and the nearby town of Arsal, state-owned news agency NNA reported.

Other local media said army helicopters were also involved in the operation.

In May, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah the leader of Hezbollah, accused the army of being incapable of defending Lebanon’s notoriously porous eastern border and announced a large offensive against ISIS and the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s Syrian offshoot, in the Qalamoun area.

As a result, on the field in Qalamoun there is a “certain degree of coordination” between Hezbollah and government troops that are fighting a common enemy within a few kilometres of each other, but not all-out cooperation.