...
Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as
The Resistanceand purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
backed by the forces of Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
allegedly captured Saturday a new position in al-Qalamoun battle.
Fighters reportedly seized Sadr al-Bustan hilltop, inflicting casualties among the ranks of jihadists, Hizbullah's mouthpiece al-Manar said.
The report said that several gunnies fled the area after it was taken by Hizbullah and the Syrian Forces.
Al-Nusra Front-affiliate Jaish al-Fatah announced that a Hizbullah member, who was killed in Qalamoun, was buried in the area.
The group shared via its Twitter account a picture of Abbas Hassan Yassine's corpse, his driving license and a neck chain indicating that he was a member of Hizbullah.
Yassine's funeral procession was reportedly held last week in his hometown in the Bekaa Valley.
In the past two weeks, Hizbullah says it has secured around a third of the Qalamoun region, on both the Lebanese and Syrian sides of the mostly non-existent border.
The area of roughly 1,000 square kilometers is a landscape of imposing hillsides riddled with caves, and open valleys full of scrub and wildflowers.
The fate of Qalamoun is particularly important for Hizbullah, which has long defended its intervention in Syria alongside President Bashir al-Assad's troops as key to the security of Leb.
Hizbullah cites that fear of gunnies (from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group and al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front) sweeping through Shiite and Christian villages in diverse Leb as one of the main reasons for their involvement in Syria.
Some observers however fear the Qalamoun offensive could prompt Islamist gunnies to launch attacks in Shiite areas of Leb itself, including Beirut's southern suburbs.
The IS and Nusra Front have infiltrated Leb in the past, and last August briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal, taking with them several soldiers and coppers hostage. Four of whom have been executed.
| Negotiations between the Lebanese government and al Nusra continue via various third parties. Occasionally there is a moment of hope, followed by despair, as a possible resolution of the situation appears on the horizon before disappearing again. All very predictable, and not worth paying attention to until the soldiers are returned or somehow rescued. |