Iran offers its help to Lebanese army in fighting terrorist groups ISIL and al-Nusra 0708142

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Defence & Security News - Iran / Lebanon

 
 
Thursday, August 7, 2014 09:30 AM
 
Iran offers its help to Lebanese army in fighting terrorist groups ISIL and al-Nusra.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham announced on Wednesday, August 7, 2014, that the country's officials are holding talks with their counterparts in Beirut to help the Lebanese army in fighting terrorist groups.
     
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham announced on Wednesday, August 7, 2014, that the country's officials are holding talks with their counterparts in Beirut to help the Lebanese army in fighting terrorist groups.
Lebanese army soldiers prepare to deploy toward Arsal, a predominantly Sunni Muslim town near the Syrian border in eastern Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014.
     
"Tehran and Beirut enjoy good and pervasive relations," Afkham told reporters in her weekly press conference in Tehran today.

"Following the activation of terrorist cells in the region, a part of which threatened Lebanon's internal security, we held some talks with the Lebanese officials; and now in case the Lebanese officials raise any demand (for campaign against terrorists), Iran will be ready to help them in this ground in a bid to protect Lebanon's internal unity," she added.

Her remarks came after reports said that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the al-Nusra terrorist groups are fighting the Lebanese army in Arsal side by side.

To coordinate their terrorist activities, ISIL and al-Nusra established a joint operations room to manage the battles and to deploy their militants, according to security sources.

The Lebanese army arrested ISIL's Imad Ahmad Joumaa who was preparing for the group's operation in Arsal and killed "Abu Hasan Al-Falastinin" who was ISIL's leader in Qalamoun.

These strikes led ISIL to speed up carrying out its plot which are mainly aimed at controlling Arsal town through joint operations with the al-Nusra against the Lebanese army.

The security sources noted that ISIL's attacks on the Lebanese army in Arsal aims at controlling the bordering town to dwell in it during the winter season as the Syrian army advances in Qalamoun and besieges the terrorists on the rugged barrens of Arsal.