Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah today vowed that there would soon be a new campaign by his militia against al-Qaeda faction Jabhat al-Nusra, centering around the Qalamoun mountain range on the Lebanon-Syria border.
Nusra and its allies have pushed into Qalamoun in a big way over the last several days, overrunning several Syrian Army and Hezbollah posts in the area. Hezbollah’s Syrian base of operations is in the border town of al-Zabadani.
Hezbollah has been involved in the Syrian Civil War for quite some time, and has been a key ally to the Assad government. As al-Qaeda moves closer to the Lebanon border, however, they seem to be looking to expand that involvement.
Al-Qaeda has been keen to push into Lebanon outright, and at times has attacked sites further north into Lebanon. This latest shift into Qalamoun reflects a desire to control more of the border, as well as to take more consequential Syrian territory in the process.