Lebanese army captured a number of strategic hilltops bordering Syria from ISIS jihadists, army and state media reported. Lebanon’s National News Agency said the army captured several hills between the frontier towns of Ras Baalbek and Arsal, and the army said in a statement it destroyed ISIS fortifications and killed several of its members.

 

This came two days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced the Lebanese army would lead the fight to drive out ISIS from the border region once and for all. Fateh al-Sham Front, the current name of Al-Nusra, agreed to vacate the frontier region in July, following a two-weeks-long military operation spearheaded by Hezbollah on the Lebanese side and the Syrian army on the other.

 

More than 1,000 militants were given safe passage to Fateh al-Sham's stronghold in northwest Syria's Idlib province. Some 6,000 Syrian refugees accompanied them, preferring not to stay in Lebanon.