Lebanon Army Declares Ceasefire in Border Offensive against Daesh
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A ceasefire took effect on Sunday in a Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) pocket straddling the Syria-Lebanon border, where the Takfiri militants have been exchanging fire with the Lebanese army on one front and Hezbollah with the Syrian army on the other, a report said.
The Lebanese army announced its own ceasefire took effect at 7:00 a.m. (12 a.m. ET) to allow for negotiations over the fate of Lebanese soldiers who are in the terror group’s captivity, The Daily Star reported.
The military statement did not mention a ceasefire on Syria’s side of the frontier.
Soon after, the Syrian army and Hezbollah announced a ceasefire in their offensive against Daesh in Syria’s west Qalamoun region near the border, the report added.
The fighting began a week ago when the Lebanese army, and the Syrian army and Hezbollah, began separate but simultaneous offensives against the Daesh enclave.
Northeast Lebanon saw one of the worst spillovers of Syria’s war into Lebanon in 2014, when Daesh and other militants briefly overran the border town of Arsal. The fate of nine soldiers that Daesh took captive then remains unknown.
The Lebanese army offensive is near the town of Ras Baalbek.
Last week, Lebanon and Hezbollah each announced they had made significant gains against the militants, driving them back into a smaller part of the arid hills on the border.
