In a deal, remains of Lebanon soldiers held by IS located

The U.S-backed Lebanese army denies it co-ordinated with the Syrian government.

The deal also entails the transfer of remaining IS militants on both sides of the border to eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour province, which is mostly controlled by the extremist group. The Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and Iranian-organized militias, is preparing an offensive to recapture the oil-rich province.

After a week of fighting, cease-fires were announced on both sides of the border earlier Sunday. The Lebanese army said the halt in fighting, which came after 100 square kilometres (38 square kilometres) were cleared of militants, was to allow for negotiations to determine the fate of the soldiers.

Hezbollah and Syrian media said the cease-fire was to allow for the comprehensive deal.

Hezbollah, which Western nations view as a terrorist organization, has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces inside Syria since 2013.

Lebanon’s main political factions are bitterly divided over the war in neighbouring Syria, and many would fiercely object to any direct co-operation with Assad’s government. Lebanese were also divided over the outcome of the deal, some taking to social media to criticize the negotiations with the militants. Others hailed the deal and evacuation of the militants as a victory.

Ibrahim said after IS militants were driven into Syria under pressure from the Lebanese military, the deal became possible. He said detained militants revealed the location of the soldiers’ remains. They were still wearing their military uniforms, he said.

Ibrahim said he was part of the negotiations over the fate of the soldiers, but Hezbollah and Syria sorted out the larger deal.

“The first article in this deal was (determining) the fate of the soldiers,” Ibrahim told reporters from outside the tents set up for years by the families of the missing soldiers looking for their relatives. “This case … has regrettably been closed on a dark note.” Relatives of the soldiers broke down in tears and declined to talk to the media.

The soldiers were among more than 20 kidnapped in 2014 when militants linked to al-Qaida and IS overran the border town, Arsal. Most of those kidnapped were later released. It was the most serious spillover into Lebanon from the six-year Syrian war. Al-Qaida-linked militants were evacuated from the area earlier this month, following a Hezbollah offensive there.

The Syrian official news agency SANA said the area along the border would be declared free of IS militants soon. A Syrian military official told the agency that the evacuation of IS militants, negotiated by Hezbollah, has been approved.

Al-Ikhbariya quoted an unnamed Syrian field commander as saying the militants have been driven out of some 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) in Syria. Syrian media say around 400 militants and their families are expected to be evacuated toward Deir el-Zour, though it was not clear when that would take place.

The Central Military Media, an outlet run jointly by Hezbollah and the Syrian army, said according to the cease-fire deal, buses will transport IS members and their families to Boukamal, the Syrian town in Deir el-Zour, along the Iraqi border.

The bodies of five Hezbollah fighters were also brought back to Lebanon as part of the deal.

As negotiations for the evacuation of IS militants to Deir el-Zour were underway, Syrian troops backed by Russian air power and Iranian-backed militias pushed their way into the province from Sukhna in the country’s centre.

The government troops and its allied militias have been moving toward Deir el-Zour from three different angles — in central, northern and southern Syria. The new advances bring the pro-government troops about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the provincial capital, where IS militants have besieged government troops for years. IS controls most of the oil-rich province.

Russian officials have said the priority is now to aid government troops in recapturing Deir el-Zour, which is southeast of Raqqa and where U.S-backed Syrian opposition forces are battling Islamic state group militants.

U.S-backed forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, are also making a bid for Deir el-Zour province, raising concerns of a potential friction with the Syrian troops.

Late on Saturday, Islamic State militants attacked a base of the SDF forces in Shaddadi town, about 120 kilometres (74 miles) north of Deir el-Zour. Bassem Aziz, of the SDF media centre in the area, said 12 IS militants attacked their offices, including four suicide bombers. Aziz said the attack continued into the early hours Sunday and was foiled, leaving the attackers dead and a number of SDF fighters injured.

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Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.

Sarah El Deeb, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

In a deal, remains of Lebanon soldiers held by IS located

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