Press TV - Hezbollah says it hasconcludeda military offensive against Takfiri terrorists on the outskirts of Arsal after dislodging themilitants from the northeastern Lebanese town on the Syrian border.
Commanders of the resistance movement onSaturday led a media tour of areas captured from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham the militant group formerly known as the Nusra Front.
Hezbollah launched a week-long assault on the outskirts of both Arsal and the adjacent town of Flita in Syriaon July 21, seizing land in the rugged, mountainous areaand killing about 150 terrorists.
We accomplished the main target of the operations by expelling the Nusra Front from the Qalamoun mountains and the outskirts of Arsal, Hezbollahs War media center quoted acommander as saying.
Arsals countryside and Qalamoun had turned into havens forthe al-Qaedaoffshoot. Theoffensive waspart of a series of battles Hezbollah has fought, starting in Homs Qusair and continuing into Qalamoun in 2014, before heading to the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and the Qalamoun mountains in 2015.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"]
Mourners carry the coffin of Ali Ismael, a Hezbollah member, who was killed in the Qalamoun region, during a funeral procession in a southern suburb of Beirut, on October 7, 2015. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]We detonated more than onecar bomb and we found numerous metal workshopsmanufacturing bombs and mortars, with tons of explosive material in the workshops, the Hezbollah commander noted.
The groupsaid its fighters managed to infiltrate behind enemy frontiers and attack militants from unexpected positions. We fought the enemy face to face, from close range, the commander said.
The resistance movementhas beenfighting alongside Syrian government forces since 2013.
On Saturday, Hezbollahs Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem reiterated the movements assertion that its contribution to the Syrian operations was meant to deter the terror threat facing Lebanon.
If we did not fight in Syria, we would have had to fight in every house we have and in every village and city in Lebanon, Qassem said.
We went to Syria to fight in the backyard before [the militant threat] reached the house, and to stop its advance, he said, adding thatthe Lebanese resistance movement and its allies had managed to defeat extremists and their supporters.
