BICOM

In a speech to commemorate victory over ISIS at the Lebanese-Syrian border, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Lebanon should capture the Shebaa Farms (Mount Dov) and revealed that he had visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in order to coordinate the expulsion of ISIS fighters from the Syria-Lebanon border region.

Nasrallah said: “We call on the state to devise a plan and take a sovereign decision to liberate the Shebaa Farms and the Kfarshouba Hills.”

Despite UN verification of Israel’s full withdrawal from Lebanese territory in 2000, Hezbollah claims the Shebaa Farms, known in Israel as Mount Dov, are Lebanese territory. The area is located on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights, and was under Syrian control from the 1950s until it was captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Neither Israel, Syria or the UN recognised Mount Dov as Lebanese territory.

Nasrallah also revealed details of his visit to Damascus and his meeting with Assad. Hinting at coordination between Hezbollah and the Lebanese army he said: “We wanted the end of the battle to be conducted by the Lebanese military and that’s what happened”.  Nasrallah’s discussions with Assad focused on the compromise agreement between ISIS and the Lebanese and Syrian Governments to allow ISIS fighters and their families to evacuate the Lebanese-Syrian border area and travel to eastern Syria and the Iraqi border on Monday. The deal was negotiated between ISIS and Hezbollah and was heavily criticised by the US and Iraq, as well as by some in Lebanon.

The deal was reached after Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces fought against ISIS on both sides of the Syrian-Lebanese border near the Lebanese town of Arsal, the villages of Ras Baalbek and Qaa, and the outskirts of Syria’s Qalamoun region and the western Syrian town of Qusair. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told reporters: “Honestly speaking, we are unhappy and consider it incorrect. Transferring terrorists from Qalamoun (an area on the Lebanese-Syrian border) to the Iraqi-Syrian border is worrying and an insult to the [Iraqi] people. There must be no chance for Daesh to breathe.”

A US-led coalition spokesman said on Wednesday that the coalition had carried out air strikes which blocked the evacuating jihadists from reaching eastern Syria and the Iraqi border.