Arsal

The Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH) distributed blankets and fuel to Syrian refugees living in sub-human conditions in Lebanon.

Emre Kaya, the Middle East Desk coordinator for İHH, said the Lebanese city of Arsal was home to nearly 60,000 Syrian refugees who are struggling to survive in make-shift tents in harsh winter conditions.

The Syrian army and Hezbollah prepared on Monday to transport Islamic State fighters from their enclave on the border with Lebanon to eastern Syria after a week-long offensive against the jihadist group, according to Reuters. 

A cease-fire took effect on Aug. 27 in an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) enclave straddling the Syria-Lebanon border, where the militants have been fighting the Lebanese army on one front and Hezbollah with Syrian troops on the other.

The Lebanese army announced that a cease-fire in its own offensive took effect at 7 a.m. but did not mention Syria's side of the frontier.

Lebanon's Hezbollah group said on July 21 that its fighters had begun an operation against militants on both sides of the country's border with Syria.

The operation has been anticipated for several weeks, and comes after Lebanese soldiers carrying out raids on Syrian refugee camps in the area were met with suicide bombings and a grenade attack.

Al Qaeda's Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, released 16 Lebanese soldiers and policemen held captive since August, 2014 on Dec. 1 in a Qatari-mediated deal that also secured freedom for a jailed ex-wife of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who said she wished to come to Turkey. 

Saudi Arabia has given Lebanon's military $1 billion to help its fight against jihadists on the Syrian border, as the army's chief urged France to speed up promised weapons supplies.
      
After fighting in the eastern area Tuesday, where troops have been clashing with militants since Saturday, ambulances entered the town of Arsal amid reports of a truce.
      

Gunmen have killed eight Lebanese soldiers in clashes that erupted near the border with Syria after the army detained a suspected jihadist from the war-torn country, the military said Aug. 3.

The clashes are some of the worst violence to hit the tense border area of Arsal since the beginning of the war in neighbouring Syria in 2011, with gunmen attacking Lebanese soldiers and police.