Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that the battle in Jouroud Arsal aims at removing the gunmen from the areas controlled by al-Nusra Front in the Lebanese and Syrian territories, due to the threats posed by the presence of armed groups in Lebanon, stressing that the decision to launch the offensive came from Hezbollah, not from Syria or Iran.
Commenting on the battle’s timing, Nasrallah said in the first speech since the launch of Arsal battle that “this fight has been postponed since 2015 when some areas were regained, but then suicide bombers came to the region after the Lebanese army and security forces defeated the cells that were formed in Lebanon.”
The Hezbollah chief revealed that serious negotiations were launched Tuesday by an official Lebanese group, adding that “al-Nusra Front must be aware that its position on the ground does not grant them the right to impose conditions.”
“The gunmen currently occupy a very limited area and are trying to go into the camps, this is why we called on our fighters not to rush in order to avoid any mistake that could cause casualties from civilians and Syrian refugees,” he explained.
Nasrallah stated that his party was close to scoring a "very big military victory" in the battle against militants along the Syrian-Lebanese border.