Foreign fighters from the Syrian army have recently been transferred from the country’s north to the border area with Lebanon, sources told The Cradle on 13 November.
“In recent days, groups of foreign fighters have been transferred from the Harem area in Idlib province to the city of Al-Qusayr, near the Syrian–Lebanese border, coinciding with the movement of heavy military equipment, including vehicles and armored units,” the sources said.
“At the same time, forces affiliated with the Ministry of Defense of the ‘Syrian Transitional Government’ attempted to advance and take positions inside Lebanese territory, specifically in the Wadi al-Thalajat area of Ras al-Maara, along the Syrian–Lebanese border in the Damascus countryside,” the sources said, referring to barren areas where the Lebanese army is not present.
According to Lebanese media reports from the last two days, the deployments come as part of clashes between the Syrian army and ISIS cells facing the Lebanese town of Arsal, in border areas on the Syrian side.
Just days ago, the US announced Syria’s official entry into Washington’s ‘anti-ISIS’ coalition, which was formed in 2014 and followed by a widespread US military occupation of Syrian oil fields.
As self-appointed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in Washington on Sunday, Damascus’s forces began what they said was a widespread campaign against ISIS. Some of the images and videos released by state media appeared to be staged.
The Syrian military itself is made up of several extremist factions with links to both Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Scores of former ISIS fighters and commanders occupy positions in many of the Syrian army’s brigades.
Last month, Al Mayadeen cited diplomatic sources as saying that “unusual” movements of thousands of armed extremists, including fighters from Uzbekistanis, Chechens, and Uyghurs from China, were being observed along the Syrian–Lebanese border.
Tens of thousands of foreign fighters entered Syria illegally to join the US-backed war to topple former president Bashar al-Assad’s government, which began in 2011. The new authorities in Damascus have given some of these foreigners top positions in the army, and said they are considering giving them Syrian citizenship.
Reports of a buildup of Syrian army forces near the Lebanese border coincide with new US threats that they could be used against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Damascus will now actively assist us in confronting and dismantling the remnants of ISIS, the [Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist networks, and will stand as a committed partner in the global effort to secure peace,” US envoy Tom Barrack said on Friday.
At the start of the Syrian war, ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front (headed by Sharaa at the time) occupied large swathes of the northern and eastern Lebanese border region.
They were eventually expelled by Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in 2017.
I will say that I suspect the Lebanese armed forces has aligned with Hezboallah due to the threat of Israel.
The recent action of theirs to suspend the disarming plan by the government citing the threat of Israel signals to me that if they felt the Lebanese government is too compromised by Western powers, then the military may see fit to "correct" the situation.
I have trust in the resistance and its capability to survive the brutal conditions of the empire. However survival will be still be paying a heavy toll of blood that, if avoidable, I'd hope for its subversion.