Lebanese army tightens noose around Daesh by advancing along Syrian border

A member of the Lebanese army helps a Syrian refugee at the Lebanese town of Arsal, near the border with Syria on July 24, 2017. (Photo by Lebanese army media office)

The Lebanese army says its forces have advanced along the Syrian border, tightening the noose on the areas controlled by Daesh Takfiri militants.

Militants left bombs and explosive belts behind in the areas captured by the Lebanese troops on the edge of the Lebanese border town of Arsal on Tuesday, the army said in a statement.

The body of an unidentified man was also discovered in the areas, the statement said.

At present, only Daesh terrorists have remained in the area, as militants affiliated with the Levant People's Brigades and al-Qaeda have left the area.

The Lebanese army has been making preparations to launch massive offensive on Daesh positions along the Syrian border for weeks, massing reinforcements and bombing the area with artillery shells and rockets.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement and the Syrian army are preparing to launch a simultaneous attack on the Syrian side of the border.

On Monday, 3,000 Syrian refugees and 300 Saraya Ahl al-Sham militants started evacuating eastern Arsal after the defeat of Takfiri terrorists during a Hezbollah offensive.

The departure comes as part of an agreement that followed a July's offensive by the Lebanese resistance movement and the Syrian army to drive out militants from their last stronghold in the border area between Lebanon and Syria.

Fighters from the Syrian army and Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement take position on the western mountains of Qalamoun, near Damascus on July 23, 2017. (Photo by SANA)

Earlier this month, the Lebanese resistance movement said its fighters had regained control over all areas in Arsal, which lies about 124 kilometers northeast of Beirut.

Former Al-Nusra Front terrorists, now known as Fateh al-Sham, withdrew following a series of consecutive defeats that forced them to agree to a ceasefire.

Under the truce deal, the Syrian government will shuttle the militants and their families to Idlib Province and some other areas.

Hezbollah launched a major push on July 21 to clear both sides of Lebanon's border with Syria of “armed terrorists.” Hezbollah fighters have fended off several Daesh attacks inside Lebanon. They have also been providing assistance to Syrian army forces to counter the ongoing foreign-sponsored militancy.

On Friday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the next phase of the battle with terrorists would be aimed at eliminating the Daesh terrorists in the border areas between Lebanon and Syria. He also stressed that that the areas liberated from the control of the militants would be handed over to the Lebanese army.

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.