In May 2007, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) encountered one of its greatest threats to date as it fought the dangerous terrorist organization Fatah al-Islam in the Palestinian camp of Nahr Elbared, one of the most densely populated places in northern Lebanon.
Lacking air backing, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and appropriate standards of communication, LAF succeeded in holding the camp after three months of combat. It killed around 400 terrorists, with 174 soldiers killed and roughly 500 wounded.
A decade later, in August 2017, LAF undertook operation “Dawn of the Outskirts,” a thriving military offensive against 600 ISIS militants disguised in bunkers, caves, and tunnels across a bare mountainous area near Arsal, a remote Lebanese village on the eastern border with Syria. This time around, however, LAF was far quicker and more efficient, and it took just 10 days to re-establish the management of the Lebanese state in the border area. LAF also incurred quite fewer losses than in 2007 because it was capable of making good use of precision-guided munitions, ISR employing air surveillance platforms, air support, and coordinated ground manoeuvres.
The Lebanese group Hezbollah, the Lebanese Armed Forces, and the Syrian Arab Army undertook a major operation on 21 July 2017, to eliminate the pockets of HTS and ISIL fighters on the Lebanon-Syria boundary. During the offensive, the Lebanese Army carried a defensive position in Arsal. By the following day, Hezbollah reportedly seized key points near the border, including the strategic hilltop of Dhahr al-Huwa, a former Tahrir al-Sham (al-Nusra Front) command. As of 23 July, the Syrian Army seized 36 square miles of terrain on the Syrian side of the border.
On 27 July, a three-day ceasefire deal was reached by Hezbollah with Tahrir al-Sham and Saraya Ahl al-Sham in the Lebanese part of the Qalamoun Mountains. The contract called for Tahrir al-Sham forces to retreat from Lebanon to Idlib, and Saraya Ahl al-Sham forces to retreat to the eastern Qalamoun Mountains, where rebel forces carry a pocket of control and exchange prisoners from both sides. On the same day, Hezbollah declared that there would be further military procedures against the ISIL pocket
On 4 August, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah declared that the Syrian Arab Army and Hezbollah would participate in the recapture of the ISIL sack on the Syrian-Lebanese frontier for the first time since 2013. The Lebanese Army reported that it would not correspond with the Syrian Army during the offensive. Two days later, the Lebanese Armed Forces established an assault on ISIL positions near the Shabeb Canyon. After a string of intense clashes, the Lebanese Army arrested the sites and pushed on to the Abu ‘Ali and al-Dalel al-‘Aqra elevations in the Ras Ba’albak region. The cliffs were also eventually seized. Further Lebanese Army advance was declared on the countryside of Jaroud Arsal and Ras Balbak applying mechanised forces.
On the morning of 19 August, the Lebanese Army continued its offensive against ISIL in the Lebanese part of the Qalamoun Mountains, while the Syrian Army and Hezbollah undertook an offensive on the Syrian side of the border. Later in the day Syrian Arab Army’s Republican Guard and Hezbollah seized Abu Khadeir and Mass’oud valleys, Sha’abat Srour, Qabr Al-‘Arsali, Khirbat Al-‘Aylat, Abu Khadeij Point, and Shalouf Point alongside the border with Lebanon.
