Hezbollah fighters kill senior IS leader near border

Lebanon's Shiite militant movement Hezbollah destroyed two Islamic State (IS) positions entrenched on the outskirts of the border town of Ras Baalbek and al-Zwaitinah, killing a highly ranked official of the extremist group, Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station said Saturday.

Abu Khatab and members of his company were killed in their command center in the area of al-Zwaitinah, on the outskirts of Al-Qaa and neighboring Ras Baalbek, the report said.

Hezbollah fighters posted a video showing guided missiles destroying two bunkers hundreds of meters apart in the barren region that comprised the command center.

Militants from the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are entrenched in the mountains along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The Lebanese army regularly shells their positions while Hezbollah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the borders.

The northeastern border town of al-Qaa was targeted with eight suicide attacks on Monday, which left five people killed and at least 255 others injured.

No group has yet claimed responsibility of the attacks.

The two extremist groups overran briefly the border town of Arsal in 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the Lebanese army for several days.

The extremists abducted around 35 troops and policemen before they retreated, among whom al-Nusra executed four while the IS beheaded one. Endit