Lebanese Army Captures Senior Daesh Member During Offensive at Syrian Border

A military source said that Lebanese military intelligence units have detained a Daesh senior member.

Lebanese military intelligence units have detained an Islamic State (Daesh) senior member responsible for an assault on the country’s troops in 2014 on the Syrian border, a military source told Sputnik Monday.

“Military intelligence has detained  Basel Abdel Kader in Wadi al-Araneb, a Syrian national, in Aarsal … [he was] in charge of security in Daesh,” the source said, adding that the terrorist was responsible for the attack on a military base in Aarsal’s vicinity in 2014 when the Daesh militants kidnapped several Lebanese servicemen whose fate is still unknown.

Lebanon launches offensive to clear Daesh militants from Syria border

The Lebanese army started an operation early Saturday to defeat pockets of Islamist insurgency on its side of the border with Syria, local media said.

The start of the offensive against an enclave of Daesh terror group  was announced by Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun.

The operation, codenamed “Fajr al-Joroud,” reportedly focuses on the mountainous area around the towns of Al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon.

This stretch of the Lebanese-Syrian border has been used by Islamists to smuggle weapons and fresh recruits into Syria. The Lebanese government approved recommendations last week to attack Daesh positions after Prime Minister Saad Hariri accused them of mounting attacks on security forces.