From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
US official knocks IS-Hezbollah deal
The top US envoy for the international coalition against the Islamic State, Brett McGurk, is blasting a deal that led to the evacuation of hundreds of Islamic State group fighters and civilians from the Lebanon-Syria border to areas close to Iraq.
McGurk tweets that IS “terrorists should be killed on the battlefield, not bused across #Syria to the Iraqi border without #Iraq’s consent.”
Irreconcilable #ISIS terrorists should be killed on the battlefield, not bused across #Syria to the Iraqi border without #Iraq's consent 1/2
— Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) August 30, 2017
The evacuation agreement, the first such publicized deal, had already angered many Iraqis who accused Syria and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of dumping the militants on the Iraqi border rather than eradicating them.
McGurk adds that the anti-IS coalition will help ensure that “these terrorists can never” enter Iraq.
Our @coalition will help ensure that these terrorists can never enter #Iraq or escape from what remains of their dwindling "caliphate." 2/2
— Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) August 30, 2017
Lebanese troops launched an attack against IS on August 18 while Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters launched a simultaneous offensive from the Syrian side of the border. Once IS extremists were squeezed over the week end in a small part of the border area they agreed to a ceasefire.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.