Hezbollah forces strike Daesh positions in NE Lebanon

Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement have pounded the positions of the Daesh Takfiri group in northeastern Lebanon as they are battling foreign-backed militants operating in areas straddling the Syrian-Lebanese border.

Hezbollah’s Operations Command Center said in a statement that its forces destroyed Daesh hideouts on the outskirts of the predominantly-Christian town of al-Qaa, located a few kilometers (miles) from the Syrian border, on Thursday, using heavy machine guns, artillery and rocket launchers.

The statement added that scores of Daesh militants were killed in the operations, without providing an exact figure.

Earlier this month, a notorious Daesh commander, known by the nom de guerre Abu Khattab, was killed during a Hezbollah operation near al-Qaa.

According to a report published by the Lebanese al-Manar television network, Hezbollah fighters targeted Abu Khattab and his entourage with a guided missile as they were traveling along a road in the Zuwaitinah area of Ras Baalbek.

Abu Khattab was reportedly the operations chief of Daesh in the area.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed on July 1 that resistance fighters would spare no efforts to ensure security in the restive Bekaa Valley, where Qaa is located.

At least six people lost their lives and nearly 20 others sustained injuries in a series of explosions in Qaa on June 27. Hezbollah denounced the blasts, saying that some countries and entities in the Middle East and across the globe are offering covert and overt support to Takfiri terrorists.

Lebanon has witnessed the infiltration of Takfiri terrorists from neighboring Syria ever since foreign-sponsored militants began their campaign of terror in the Arab country in March 2011. Many Lebanese civilians and security forces have been targeted by militant bombings in the country since then.