600 Islamic State fighters and family members moved to eastern Syria near Iraq border
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Iran Daily, August 29: UN Envoy for Syria Visits Tehran
Islamic State fighters and their families have been moved from the Lebanon-Syria border region under Assad regime escort.
A convoy of almost two dozen buses and 11 ambulances took the ISIS members from their enclave on Monday, after more than a week of attacks by Hezbollah and the regime military in the western Qalamoun area in the western Syria. At the same time, the Lebanese army attacked ISIS positions near Arsal in northeast Lebanon.
A ceasefire was declared on Sunday, with Islamic State fighters taking the Lebanese military to the bodies of six troops killed after they were abducted by ISIS in 2014 fighting in Arsal.
The ISIS fighters and families were taken to eastern Syria, where the group still has a significant presence in Deir ez-Zor Province. A “military source” said they would arrive in al-Bukamal on the Iraq border.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said 308 fighters, allowed to carry small arms, and 331 civilians were transferred. In return, the Islamic State will hand over a captured Hezbollah fighter and the bodies of others, as well as that of an Iranian soldier.
Syria’s regime-linked al-Ikhbariya TV reported said there were about 250 ISIS fighters in the convoy, while a Hezbollah media outlet said ambulances carried 25 who were wounded.
A “senior Lebanese military official” said some ISIS members will also leave Lebanon, but he did not give a number.
Families of the Lebanese soldiers who were killed or abducted by ISIS in 2014 criticizing the deal, saying it allowed the perpetrators to leave in air-conditioned buses.
Israel: If Iran Expands in Syria, We’ll Bomb Assad’s Palace
A “senior Israeli official” has reportedly told Arab media that Bashar al-Assad’s palace in Damascus will be bombed if Iran expands its presence in Syria.
The official was following up on last week’s visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi in southern Russia. Netanyahu repeated Israel’s core position — set out to Putin just before Russia’s military intervention in September 2015 — that Iranian forces, Hezbollah, and Iranian-led foreign militia cannot be allowed into southwestern Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Publicly Netanyahu went even farther before the Sochi trip, saying that Iran must fully withdraw from Syria, where it has provided essential military and economic support to the Assad regime since 2012.
A “senior Israeli source” told the Al-Jadida newspaper that no understanding was reached between Putin and Netanyahu, who was accompanied by Mossad head Yossi Cohen and the head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben-Shabbat.
On Monday, Iran hosted the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, as Tehran held out against any reduction of its presence in Syria.
