Report: Arsal Battle Achieving Coveted Gains Fast

The results achieved on the first day of an operation launched by Hizbullah against militants on both sides of the country's border with Syria, indicate that the “battle could reach fruition in a time period shorter than anticipated,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The outcome of the battle achieved by Hizbullah so far “indicate that the battle could be over in a shorter time than anticipated in light of the evident collapse among the terrorists' ranks. On the first day, the party was able to grasp control of a series of strategic hills which formed strength points for the terrorists mainly Tallet al-Burkan in Flita," Hizbullah sources told the daily.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Hizbullah has kick started "its military operation at dawn on Friday to purge Arsal's outskirts and Qalamoun of armed terrorists.”

They said the operation had been launched on two axes -- from the Syrian town of Flita and from the southern part of outskirts of Arsal.

Arsal's outskirts is a mountainous area around the Lebanese border town of Arsal, which lies directly across from the Syrian Qalamoun region

The operation has been anticipated for several weeks, and comes after Lebanese soldiers carrying out raids on Syrian refugee camps in the area were met with suicide bombings and a grenade attack.

That attack heightened tensions over the presence in Lebanon of more than a million refugees from the civil war across the border.

Hizbullah Securing Gains in Battle against Nusra, Army Stops Militants' Infiltration

(Translation of this article appears in Arabic section)

On the second day of its operation against al-Nusra Front militant group entrenched on the outskirts of the border town of Arsal, Hizbullah was able to secure gains, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Hizbullah fighters “secured gains as they caught the hills of Wadi al-Khayl and al-Qanzah following heavy clashes with the Nusra terrorists,” NNA said.

The agency later added that Hizbullah has also seized full control of Jwar al-Sheikh, Wadi Kraydi, al-Dalil al-Abdyad and Serj Qwaiys in the outskirts.

The group's fighters waged fierce battles in one of the valleys in Arsal's outskirts, while heavy shelling was reported later on in Wadi al-Khayl, NNA later reported.

Early on Saturday, sounds of sporadic shelling on the south-eastern positions of Arsal could still be heard, as the Lebanese army strictly tightened measures to keep armed militants from escaping into the town, it said.

Clashes between Hizbullah fighters and the militants were ongoing mainly in al-Rahweh plain and Dahret al-Houwweh post.

Hizbullah's media outlets said earlier that its fighters had seized full control of said posts amid "deaths and injuries among the ranks of the al-Nusra Front militants."

Meanwhile, the army cordoned the area implementing strict security measures to preserve security inside and around Arsal, and to prevent armed militants from infiltrating or seeking refuge in the town.

Later during on Saturday, NNA said that Military Forces shelled a group of militants in Wadi al-Dam following an attempt to infiltrate towards an army checkpoint in Arsal.

The agency had reported that the shelling of gunmen positions with artillery went on all through the night with the support of the Syrian warplanes. Sound of shelling were clearly heard after midnight in the towns adjacent to the Eastern Mountain Range.

On Friday, Hizbullah said it had begun an operation against militants on both sides of the country's eastern border with Syria “to purge outskirts of Arsal and Qalamoun of armed terrorists.”

The operation has been anticipated for several weeks, and comes after Lebanese soldiers carrying out raids on Syrian refugee camps in the area were met with suicide bombings and a grenade attack.