Lebanese Defense Minister Checks In On Army Operations in Eastern Border

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab Tuesday morning began a tour of Lebanon’s eastern border with a visit to the outskirts of Arsal, where the Lebanese Army established a base after liberating the area from militants.

Bou Saab arrived by helicopter around 9 a.m. at the Shorouq Fort in the outskirts of Arsal, and was received by Army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun. He climbed up one of the base’s towers and examined the area.

His visit was meant to check in on Army operations in the area following the 2017 Fajr al-Joroud operation, which succeeded in ousting Daesh [the Arabic acronym for terrorist ‘ISIS/ISIL’ group] fighters from the outskirts of towns near the northeastern border with Syria.

In August 2014, militants from Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham - formerly known as the Nusra Front - overran Arsal, capturing and killing soldiers in clashes.

For three years, the terrorists’ presence in the area was considered a security threat to nearby towns, and to Lebanon as a whole.

On the morning of Aug. 19, 2017, Aoun announced that the Army had launched an offensive to liberate the outskirts of the towns of Al-Qaa and Ras Baalbeck from the Daesh militants. The Army has remained deployed along the frontier ever since.

Tuesday’s tour is the second such recent visit for Bou Saab, who last week visited the southern border in his first official tour since assuming office.