ISIL submits to ceasefires in Syria-Lebanon border fight<br>

A ceasefire took effect on Sunday in an ISIL pocket straddling the Syria-Lebanon border, where the militants have been fighting the Lebanese army on one front and Hezbollah with the Syrian army on the other, Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said.

The Lebanese army announced its own ceasefire took effect at 7:00 a.m. (400 GMT) to allow for negotiations over the fate of Lebanese soldiers who are in ISIL captivity.

Soon after, the Syrian army and Hezbollah announced a ceasefire in their offensive against ISIL in Syria’s west Qalamoun region near the border, al-Manar said.

The fighting began a week ago when the Lebanese army, and the Syrian army and Hezbollah, began separate but simultaneous offensives against the ISIL enclave.

Northeast Lebanon saw one of the worst spillovers of Syria’s war in 2014 when ISIL and other militants briefly overran the border town of Arsal. The fate of nine soldiers that the ISIL took captive then remains unknown.

Last week, Lebanon and Hezbollah each announced they had made significant gains against the ISIL militants, driving them back into a smaller part of the arid hills on the border.

(REUTERS)