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Army Liberates 100 Out of 120 Sq Kms as IS Explosives Kill Soldier
[AnNahar] The Lebanese army announced Tuesday that it has launched the third phase of a broad offensive to capture areas controlled by the terrorist 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 Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group on the border with Syria.

After fierce festivities, the advancing units managed to seize control of the strategic Ras al-Kaff and al-Kahf areas.

And as troops scoured Ras al-Kaff for any remaining bad boys, the engineering units were detonating explosives and traps left behind by the jihadists.

The army later announced that its units captured six new hills in the area and an Army Command front man announced that the military was now in control of 100 out of 120 square kilometers of territory previously held by IS.

"Nine terrorist posts were destroyed as arms, ammunition and explosives were seized," the front man said.

"We captured around 20 square kilometers (on Tuesday) and therefore we still have around 20 square kilometers" to liberate, he added.

The front man also told news hounds that the army does not have any IS detainees from the current battle or any new information about nine troops taken hostage by IS in 2014.

Earlier in the day, the army said in a statement that one of its mine experts, Abbas Kamal Jaafar, was killed and four others were maimed early Tuesday when explosives left behind by the hard boyz went off as they dismantled them.

The Syrian army and Leb's Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
have launched a simultaneous operation to clear IS faceless myrmidons from the Syrian side of the border in the western Qalamun mountain range. Hizbullah has been fighting in Syria alongside Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's forces since 2013.

IS 'Emir' Seeks Exit to Deir Ezzor as Ibrahim Asks for Info on Held Troops

[AnNahar] The so-called emir of 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 Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group in Leb’s eastern border region, Mouwaffaq Abu al-Sous, is seeking a mediation that would secure the withdrawal of his embattled holy warriors from the outskirts of Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa to Syria's Deir Ezzor, a media report said on Tuesday.

Al-Akhbar newspaper said that since the Lebanese army started its major anti-IS offensive on Saturday, the besieged jihadist "has been requesting negotiations on daily basis," telling the Lebanese side, "There is no problem between us and the Lebanese army."

Abu al-Sous is demanding "a safe route to withdraw to Deir Ezzor, specifically to the city of al-Mayadeen," al-Akhbar added.

"But the Lebanese side, represented by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, has rejected the demand, after Abu al-Sous insisted on securing a ceasefire before negotiations, whereas Ibrahim insisted on negotiations under fire," the daily said.

According to al-Akhbar, Ibrahim also underlined that Leb would only negotiate on two points: "offering information on the army's troops who have been kidnapped since August 2014, and surrender."

The IS "emir" for his part said that he "would not disclose any information about the captives before leaving Lebanese territory."

Security along Leb's eastern border with Syria has long been a concern, and in 2014 jihadists invaded the town of Arsal and kidnapped 30 Lebanese soldiers and coppers. Four were executed by their captors while a fifth died of his wounds. Sixteen were released by al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-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 in a prisoner swap in December 2015, but another nine solders are believed to remain in IS hands, their fate unknown
Posted by: trailing wife 2017-08-23
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=495667