BEIRUT — The speech that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivered May 16 not only announced advances made by his fighters in Qalamoun — located between Lebanon and Syria — but also clearly indicated where the next battle against terrorists will take place. Political and military developments on the ground following the speech seemed to point to the same confrontation site — the barren lands of Arsal — that Nasrallah mentioned.
In his speech, Nasrallah mentioned the sites that his fighters managed to seize over 10 days, throwing out the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra’s terrorists from Qalamoun. The barren lands of Qalamoun have been contested due to the lack of border demarcation between Lebanon and Syria since the two countries came into being in 1920.
