Arab Officials, Pundits Blast Hezbollah Over Deal With Islamic State

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AP/Kamran Jebreili
Ali Waked

TEL AVIV — Social media users have been venting their anger online over the deal between Hezbollah and the Islamic State with support from the Syrian regime. Under the terms of the deal, IS will withdraw from the al-Qalamoun region on the border between Syria and Lebanon.

In keeping with the arrangement, hundreds of IS fighters completed their withdrawal from the border area on Monday, headed toward an IS stronghold at the Deir ez-Zor Governate in Syria, closer to the border with Iraq, under the watchful eyes of the Syrian army.

The Syrian army announced on Monday that the border area had been emptied of IS fighters.

https://twitter.com/C_Military1/status/902210263805546498

In Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was accused of circumventing and ignoring the Lebanese army and Lebanese government by reaching an agreement with IS, especially after it became known that some Lebanese soldiers being held by IS were executed. Hezbollah’s opponents, particularly from within the party of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Christian organizations opposed to Hezbollah, harshly criticized the agreement.

Former Lebanese President Michel Suleiman criticized the agreement and said that IS fighters can’t be allowed to leave the area without being punished.

George Eid, an official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian organization opposed to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, attacked the agreement and said, “Hezbollah’s deal with IS includes the return of Hezbollah’s dead for a promise of escape to Deir ez-Zor and the prevention of the Lebanese army from destroying or trying those who killed its soldiers.”

Syrian journalist Ghalia Kabbani, who lives in London, claimed there was cooperation between Hezbollah and IS, saying, “Hezbollah’s and Assad’s deal with IS and the promise of their safe passage from Lebanon to eastern Syria is a clear plot and cooperation with an organization that carried out the task assigned to it.”

Qatari academic Adel al-Omari wrote, “Hezbollah is ignoring the Lebanese state and closing a deal with IS. There’s no greater danger to the nation than having a militia active within the country!!”

Lebanese political commentator Ali Chendeb wondered if there is a connection between the deal and the ceasefire in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, writing, “At the same time as Hezbollah’s deal with IS, and as if by acrobatic magic, fighting stopped in the al-Hilweh refugee camp and the exchanges of fire disappeared.”

https://twitter.com/Ali_Chendeb/status/901917491462623232

Islamic activist Mustafa Abdulhameed wrote, “The mission of IS in the border region was completed, so a path has been opened for them to participate in a new show that will serve the regime in another region.”

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