BEIRUT: At least 15 Hezbollah militia fighters and one mediator have been killed in clashes with militants in Lebanon close to the border with Syria, it emerged on Saturday.
Hezbollah on Friday carried out a second day of operations against fighters attached to Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (JFS), the militant group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front, which was aligned with Al-Qaeda.
The JFS members have taken refuge in Jaroud Arsal — a barren, mountainous area on the Lebanese-Syrian borders — since war broke out in Syria’s Qalamoun region.
Local citizens told Arab News that the intensity of the military operations, backed by Syrian regime warplanes, increased on Saturday morning after a lull on Friday night.
Hezbollah said that its fighters “took control of overlooking hills and heights, adding them to the area under the party’s control.”
Forces had earlier seized other areas in the southern part of Jaroud Arsal, Hezbollah said, according to Reuters.
According to Hezbollah-run media, at least 15 members were killed in the clashes, after five of its fighters were reportedly killed on Friday.
A security source quoted by Reuters said at least 43 militants had been killed, on top of at least 23 killed on Friday, the first day of clashes.
There are, however, no independently confirmed statistics about the results of the battle, and several inaccurate reports have been circulated.
A Lebanese mediator from Arsal, in charge of negotiations with JFS on behalf of local citizens, was also killed on Saturday.
Arsal’s former Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti, who was mediating talks between the two sides, was killed in a shell attack that targeted his car while returning to Arsal. His death was mourned by the Lebanese army, the Lebanese politician and leader of Lebanon’s Druze community Walid Jumblatt, and the Future Movement.
A Lebanese military source said that the Jaroud Arsal battle “could be protracted due to the region’s vast and difficult terrain.”
15 Hezbollah fighters, Lebanese mediator killed in clashes with militants
15 Hezbollah fighters, Lebanese mediator killed in clashes with militants
Iran temporarily closes airspace to most flights
WASHINGTON: Iran temporarily closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website.
The prohibition is set to last for more than two hours until 7:30 p.m. ET, or 0030 GMT, but could be extended, the notice said. The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic. India’s largest airline, IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.
The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries. Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week. “Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.
“The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defense, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.” Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement. Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
