Sides exchange bodies after truce on Lebanon-Syria border

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and jihadist militants yesterday started exchanging the bodies of fighters as part of a ceasefire deal for the restive Syria-Lebanon border.

The truce, announced by the movement and confirmed by Lebanon's General Security agency on Thursday, ended six days of a Hezbollah-led assault on Al-Qaeda's former Syrian branch in the mountainous Jurud Arsal border region.

Hezbollah's "War Media" outlet reported yesterday that the "first phase of the deal" had begun.

"The bodies of nine Al-Nusra fighters will be handed over to the Lebanese General Security in exchange for the remains of five Hezbollah fighters who died in the Jurud battles," the outlet said.

It said the bodies of the Syrian militants had been transported to a hospital for medical examinations.

Their remains are then expected to be transported to Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

Al-Nusra Front was Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until mid-2016 when it broke off ties, before going on to found a new jihadist-led alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which now controls large swathes of Idlib.

Hezbollah launched its offensive on Jurud Arsal -- a barren border area used by militants as a hideout for several years -- on July 21.

The group took media outlets on several guided tours of the territory it had secured, including an underground base allegedly used by militants.

Military-style vests were piled in one corner near stacked sandbags. Papers were strewn all over the carpeted floor in one room, and crates of ammunition were stored in another.