Hezbollah Is Stronger Than Ever
Photo Credit: Foreign Policy Along the vast mountain range that marks the Lebanon-Syria border, Hezbollah fighters point out recently captured al-Nusra Front training sites and military positions, and describe how they’ve been able to clear the area of the jihadis. They pick their way over the remnants of the al Qaeda affiliate’s makeshift camp, where clothes, tins of foods, and shell casings are strewn across the ground.
“They were fighters with nothing to lose, so some of them fought fiercely — at some points it was hand-to-hand combat,” said one Hezbollah commander. “But our weapon is our will, our passion, and our conviction.”
For the last two weeks, Hezbollah has been fighting along the Qalamoun mountain range, a 450-square-mile area that straddles both Lebanon and Syria, and overlooks the organization’s heartland in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Their enemies are an assortment of fighters belonging to the Islamic State, al-Nusra Front, and elements from the Free Syrian Army. Hezbollah has touted the ongoing Qalamoun battles as a victory, saying it successfully reopened a clear path from Lebanon into Syria and constrained the threat from Sunni militants posed on Lebanon’s border.
With the battle still unfinished and the sound of explosions continuing to ring in the air, the Hezbollah commander describes how they were able to recapture the territory. “We managed to cleanse the area, which had about 40 positions belonging to the terrorists,” he said. “So far, we have liberated 120 square miles.”
According to another fighter, 80 percent of the recaptured area had been under al-Nusra Front’s control, while Islamic State fighters remain in the northern part of the mountain range, where the battle has yet to come. (Read more from “Hezbollah Is Stronger Than Ever” HERE)
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