Lebanese army launches anti-terror operation near Syrian border

The Lebanese military has launched an offensive against Daesh terrorists in eastern Lebanese territory along the border with Syria.

Lebanese army chief General Joseph Aoun announced the start of the operation, dubbed Jaroud Dawn, on Saturday.

A Lebanese security source also said that the army was now targeting Daesh positions close to the village of Ras Baalbek in eastern Lebanon with rockets, artillery, and helicopter gunfire.

The military campaign began with an attack on the terrorists’ positions in the Western Qalamoon Jaroud region from the north, south, and east.

In a televised news conference later on Saturday, a spokesman for the Lebanese army, Brigadier General Ali Qansowa, said that the military operations would continue until Daesh terrorists were expelled from Lebanese territory.

“Victory is 100 percent assured in offensive, no matter how long it takes and no matter the cost,” he added.

“It’s the most difficult battle so far waged by the Lebanese army against terrorist groups,” he said, citing the nature of the terrain and enemy tactics.

He estimated that the Lebanese military was facing 600 Daesh terrorists.

Separately on Saturday, the Hezbollah resistance movement said that it had started a joint operation with the Syrian army inside Syrian territory, according to al-Manar TV station.

‘Daesh terrorists surrendering’

Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s media bureau reported later on Saturday that Daesh terrorists had started laying down their arms and surrendering themselves to the resistance movement and the Syrian army in Zamrani crossing in Syria’s Qalamoun region.

In recent years, terrorists have infiltrated into Lebanon’s border areas from inside Syria.

Some 400 Daesh terrorists are holed up in areas on the Lebanese side of the frontier, while hundreds more are on the Syrian side, according to Lebanon’s Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk.

Last month, Hezbollah concluded a joint counter-terrorism campaign with the Syrian army at Lebanon’s highlands of Arsal.

The militants of the al-Nusra Front group, recently renaming itself Fateh al-Sham, withdrew from Arsal following a series of consecutive defeats that forced them to agree to a ceasefire deal.