On Aug. 30, 308 Islamic State fighters along with 670 members of their families were allowed to evacuate from the Qalamoun area along the Lebanese-Syrian border to the town of Bou Kamal in Deir ez-Zor province near the Iraqi border. The operation was carried out using 16 buses and ambulances sent by the Syrian government in collaboration with Hezbollah.

Bou Kamal is located opposite the Iraqi al-Qaim area on Syrian territory. The distance between both areas that are under IS control since 2014 is about 22 miles. The evacuation of IS fighters to Deir ez-Zor allows them to take part in the resistance against Iraqi forces set to liberate al-Qaim. A Sept. 4 report by The Washington Post states that IS fighters on a stranded convoy have escaped to Iraq.

The criticism against the Hezbollah deal was widespread in Iraq, including among several Shiite religious figures, the Kurdistan government and Sunni tribal leaders. It also resulted in creating a clear distinction between pro-Iranian forces in Iraq and national independent forces. On the one hand, the pro-Iranian factions within the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Shiite clerics loyal to Iran supported the deal, while on the other hand, current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the Sadrist movement and a number of Iraqi Shiite clerics opposed the deal strongly.

In an Aug. 28 interview on Al-Manar TV, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah admitted the agreement was concluded with Hezbollah, citing the fact that the arrangement allowed to pinpoint the location of bodies of Lebanese army soldiers as well as Hezbollah fighters. Nasrallah said that had Hezbollah continued the fight to eliminate IS fighters, these bodies would have been lost forever. This means that Nasrallah preferred to reveal the fate of a number of bodies over the losses that would be incurred by these fighters on Iraqi forces in the upcoming liberation operations.