Syria backs evacuation deal for ISIL militants at Lebanon border

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The Syrian army on Sunday approved a deal allowing ISIL to withdraw from the western Qalamoun region toward the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, state news agency SANA reported.

"After the successes our armed forces and (Hezbollah) achieved in the western Qalamoun ... the deal arranged between Hezbollah and the terrorist Daesh group has been approved," Syrian state television said, citing a military source.

It remained unclear whether the deal includes ISIL only on Syria's side of the frontier or on Lebanese territory too.

Earlier in the day, local media said the Syrian army and the allied Hezbollah group declared a ceasefire in the Qalamoun region, following ISIL's surrender after intense battles.

Syrian pro-government forces hold a position in the Jurud al-Qaa mountainous border area in the western Qalamoun, during an offensive against ISIL fighters on August 19, 2017. /AFP Photo

The military operation ended at 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) in the badlands of Qara in the Qalamoun region in Syria and the adjacent barrens of al-Qaa on the Lebanese side of the border, after ISIL militants in the mountainous region declared their surrender to Hezbollah overnight, said the report.

Meanwhile, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported that ISIL militants surrendered as Hezbollah fighters were closing in on the Halimet Qara mountain in the rugged Qalamoun region.

ISIL negotiated with Hezbollah on two points: ISIL militants would leave with their families to their stronghold in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zour in Syria, and in return, they will reveal the destiny of nine Lebanese soldiers kidnapped by ISIL on the Lebanese side of the borders in 2014.

Some reports suggested that ISIL militants had already killed the Lebanese soldiers, but the Shiite group will leave the announcement about the fate of the soldiers to the Lebanese army.

Syrian pro-government forces fire towards jihadist positions, in the western Qalamoun, on August 23, 2017, during an offensive against ISIL fighters. /AFP Photo

The terror-labeled group has revealed to Hezbollah the location of the bodies of four Hezbollah fighters who were killed in the Qalamoun battle, according to reports.

On August 19, Hezbollah and the Syrian army launched their offensive on ISIL positions in the barrens of Qara and Jarajir in the western Qalamoun region, in tandem with a military operation by the Lebanese army on ISIL on the Lebanese side of the border to end the terror-designated group's presence on the borderline between Syria and Lebanon.

The operation came just a couple of weeks after Hezbollah and the Syrian army dislodged the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front from areas in western Qalamoun and the adjacent Juroud Arsal barrens on the Lebanese side of the border.

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency