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.

Although Nasrallah was reserved about announcing a final victory in the confrontation, saying, “We are still in the middle of the battle,” he said the terrorists had been expelled from more than 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) in the barren lands of Qalamoun, and how his fighters took full control over the Lebanese eastern border there.

After elaborating on the outcomes of the military confrontations, Nasrallah said, “Let me specify it clearly, again and again; it is the right of the Lebanese people … to look forward to the day their barren lands, the barren lands of Brital, Baalbek, Younine, Nahleh, the desolate lands of Arsal and Machari al-Kaa, are free of any terrorists, and to the day they no longer reside next to [Jabhat] al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, terrorists or beheaders. This is their right [the Lebanese], they look forward to this day and this day will come. Yet, we will not reveal when and how.”