Jihadists target Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon’s Bekaa
Gunmen from the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra have exploited Eid al-Adha to attack Hezbollah in a new location in the center of Lebanon’s border with Syria.
On the afternoon of Oct. 5, pitched battles took place between militants of the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra and the Lebanese army and Hezbollah fighters in the center of Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria.
The battle began after Sunni fundamentalist gunmen tried to cross from Arsal’s barren lands, at the northeast corner of Lebanon, in a southerly direction toward the center. The new site of clashes is a densely populated Shiite area, adjacent to Brital and close to Baalbek, both considered Hezbollah strongholds.
Sources close to Hezbollah told Al-Monitor about four factors that forced this shift by IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.
The first: the surprising early arrival of winter, or at least the bitter cold, in these barren lands. Late September saw a significant temperature drop in the mountains where peaks reach more than 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level, forcing the gunmen to seek shelter.
