Hezbollah strikes Takfiris on Lebanon-Syria border

Hezbollah fighters have ambushed a group of militants belonging to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group in northeastern Lebanon, killing and wounding a number of them.

They outflanked the terrorists on the outskirts of the town of Arsal on Friday, the Lebanese resistance movement’s War Media Center said.

The attack killed at least one militant and injured several others, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel.

The center released a brief video showing fighters firing mortar bombs and a rocket at targets in the barren area.

Lebanon has been affected by the spillover from the foreign-backed militancy, which has been plighting Syria since 2011.

The militants briefly overran Arsal in August 2014, taking several Lebanese army and police forces hostage, some of whom were executed. In December last year, most of the captives were released as part of a prisoner swap deal.

Ever since, Lebanese border areas have come under intermittent attacks by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front or al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, which recently splintered from the group, as well as Daesh, another Takfiri terror group.

Hezbollah fighters have fended off several Daesh attacks inside Lebanon. They have also been providing counterinsurgency assistance to Syrian army forces in neighboring Syria.

The movement has accused Israel of supporting Takfiri terrorists operating in the Middle East.

Israel, which continues to occupy Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms and Syria’s Golan Heights, is widely reported to be offering medical help to Takfiri terrorists injured in Syria. In December 2015, British newspaper the Daily Mail said Israel had saved the lives of more than 2,000 Takfiri militants since 2013.

Also on Friday, it was reported that Lebanon’s army had arrested a man suspected of being the leader of a Daesh smuggling ring in Lebanon, near the northern border town of Wadi Khaled.

Separately, Lebanese state media reported that army intelligence had arrested two men accused of manufacturing and detonating bombs in northern Lebanon.