Around 300 rebel fighters return to Syria
dpa
BEIRUT (dpa)- Around 300 Syrian rebel fighters have left the outskirts of Arsal in north-eastern Lebanon to return to Syria, Hezbollah and rebel sources said Monday.
Some 40 buses carrying fighters from Saraya Ahl al-Sham, a Syrian rebel group loyal to the Free Syrian Army, set off along with Syrian refugees who want to cross the border and return home, Hezbollah's media office said.
Hezbollah, a Lebanese Islamist militant group, has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war since 2012.
The rebel fighters will head to the city of al-Rouhiba, a rebel-held town in Syria's eastern Qalamoun region, located 50 kilometres north-east of Damascus.
Lebanese media said that some refugees will go to the Syrian government-held area of Assal al-Ward, located near the border with Lebanon.
The departures comes after fighters belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Fatah al-Sham group left the outskirts of Arsal earlier this month towards the Syrian province of Idlib, after they were defeated by Hezbollah.
Syria's civil war, now in its seventh year, has devastated the country, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced about half of the pre-war population of 22 million.
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The rebel fighters will head to the city of al-Rouhiba, a rebel-held town in Syria's eastern Qalamoun region, located 50 kilometres north-east of Damascus.
Lebanese media said that some refugees will go to the Syrian government-held area of Assal al-Ward, located near the border with Lebanon.
The departures comes after fighters belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Fatah al-Sham group left the outskirts of Arsal earlier this month towards the Syrian province of Idlib, after they were defeated by Hezbollah.
Syria's civil war, now in its seventh year, has devastated the country, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced about half of the pre-war population of 22 million.
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