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In a deal, remains of Lebanon soldiers held by IS located

By SARAH EL DEEB for DNA tests to determine
Associated Press their identities.
BEIRUT (AP) — The remains Locating the soldiers’ re-
of eight Lebanese soldiers mains was part of a deal
kidnapped by the Islamic that comes a week af-
State group three years ter the Lebanese military
ago were located Sunday, launched a campaign to
a senior Lebanese official drive out IS militants from
said, in a negotiated deal some 120 square kilome-
that followed a military of- ters (46 square miles) in a
fensive to drive the militants rugged mountainous area
out of the border area with that straddles the Leba-
Syria. nese-Syrian border. Sepa-
Abbas Ibrahim, the chief of rately but simultaneously,
Lebanese General Secu- the Lebanese Hezbollah
rity, said six bodies buried in militia, in cooperation with
Lebanon near the border the Syrian army, launched
with Syria were removed. another offensive to pres-
He said the operation con- sure the IS militants in Syrian
tinued to pull out two more territories along the same
bodies but the fate of a border area.
ninth soldier remained un- The U.S-backed Lebanese
known. army denies it coordinat-
The soldiers’ remains were ed with the Syrian govern- Abbas Ibrahim, center, chief of Lebanese General Security, speaks during a press conference in
front of tents set up by families of missing soldiers who were kidnapped by Islamic State group
transported later Sunday ment.The deal also entails militants, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. Ibrahim said that bodies believed
to Beirut’s military hospital the transfer of remaining to be of soldiers kidnapped by IS militants three years ago have been found buried near the bor-
der with Syria.
(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
IS militants on both sides of After a week of fight- the fate of the soldiers.
the border to eastern Syr- ing, cease-fires were an- Hezbollah and Syrian me-
ia’s Deir el-Zour province, nounced on both sides of dia said the cease-fire was
which is mostly controlled the border earlier Sunday. to allow for the compre-
by the extremist group. The Lebanese army said hensive deal.
The Syrian government, the halt in fighting, which Hezbollah, which Western
backed by Russian air pow- came after 100 square ki- nations view as a terror-
er and Iranian-organized lometers (38 square kilo- ist organization, has been
militias, is preparing an of- meters) were cleared of fighting alongside Presi-
fensive to recapture the oil- militants, was to allow for dent Bashar Assad’s forces
rich province. negotiations to determine inside Syria since 2013.q

Iraq: 90% of Tal Afar retaken from IS

BAGHDAD (AP) — clare areas liberated the extremist group on a
Iraq’s military said Satur- before the fighting has number of fronts in recent
day it has driven Islamic completely ended, and months with the help of a
State militants out of 90 the militants have been U.S.-led coalition.
percent of the northern known to carry out sur- U.S.-backed and Kurd-
town of Tal Afar and re- prise counterattacks. ish-led forces are cur-
taken the town center. Iraq launched the opera- rently battling IS inside
Brig. Gen. tion to retake Tal Afar on the group’s self-declared
Yahya Rasool, a military Sunday, a month after it capital, Raqqa, in north-
spokesman, spoke hours declared the northern city ern Syria.
after Iraq’s foreign min- of Mosul, its second larg- IS still controls large areas
ister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, est, to be fully liberated. in Syria and a handful of
said that 70 percent of Tal Afar is about 150 ki- towns in Iraq.
the town west of Mosul lometers (93 miles) from In the past, it has man-
had been retaken. Syria’s border and it’s aged to inspire or carry
Al-Jaafari spoke during a among the last IS-held out attacks in Europe and
news conference with his towns in Iraq. elsewhere even while suf-
French counterpart. Iraqi and Syrian forces fering battlefield setbacks
Iraqi officials often de- have advanced against in the Middle East. q