Hezbollah fighters and gunmen from al Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front clashed on Tuesday in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria, Hezbollah’s television channel and a military source in the Lebanese group said.
Syrain activists on the ground reported that a field commander for Hezbollah named Ali Khalil Olyan has been killed in these clashes. he was identified as one of the key Hezbollah commanders in the Qalamoun region.
The source said Hezbollah ambushed Nusra fighters in “advanced positions” in the outskirts of the mountain towns of Toufeil and Britel. Nusra Front fighters have regularly been active in areas close to the Syrian border and have targeted Hezbollah and Lebanese army positions in the past.
The Lebanese military source told Reuters:
“The clashes erupted hours ago, their casualties are very high.”
Al-Manar TV said Hezbollah fighters destroyed five military vehicles for Nusra Front and killed at least 12 fighters. There was no immediate reaction from Nusra Front, which has recently been on the offensive in northwestern Syria.
A Lebanese security source said the clashes were continuing on the outskirts of Britel and in the Toufeil area and were around 50 km (30 miles) from the Syrian border.
The Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah is a staunch ally of Syria’s Assad and has sent hundreds, if not thousands, of combatants to fight alongside his forces in the four-year civil war.
Following recent gains in the north of the country, Syrian rebels are preparing for a new offensive further south against the Assad regime for control of a strategic region on the border with Lebanon.
Last year, Assad forces with help from Hezbollah fighters expelled rebels from most of Qalamoun, a strategic region 50 miles long and 25 miles wide stretching from the outskirts of Damascus and along the Lebanese border.
That offensive followed a ferocious battle for control of Qusair, a key town, that pitted Syrian Shabbeha forces and Hezbollah fighters against battle-hardened rebel militias, including al-Nusra, some of the toughest elements on both sides of the civil war.
Qusayr eventually fell to the pro-Assad forces, boosting Syrian army morale and ushering in a string of Assad battlefield gains.
However, a coalition of Syrian rebel forces spearheaded by al-Nusra are looking to reverse those losses after seizing the cities of Idlib and Jisr al-Shugur last month.
Reuters and VOA contributed to this article
Hezbollah, Nusra clash In Lebanon
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