BEIRUT (Reuters) - A convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families left the Lebanon-Syria border region on Monday under Syrian military escort, surrendering their enclave and traveling to eastern Syria after a week-long battle.

A line of ambulances and buses were shown on Syrian state television driving slowly through the arid countryside, the border’s pale hills behind them, as they departed.

The transfer ends any insurgent presence on the border, an important goal for Lebanon and Hezbollah, and marks the first time Islamic State has publicly agreed to a forced evacuation from territory it held in Syria.

Islamic State agreed a ceasefire deal that took effect on Sunday with the Lebanese army on one front and Hezbollah with the Syrian army on the other. The militants had lost much of their mountainous enclave straddling the border since the two offensives began on opposite sides of the frontier.

The Lebanese army has said its offensive against Islamic State did not involve coordination with the Syrian army or Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through Syria’s six-year war. The Iran-backed Shi’ite group has played a major role fighting Sunni militants at the border and has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to support Assad’s government.

The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Monday that the group had accepted Islamic State’s evacuation partly in order to find out the fate of nine Lebanese soldiers in Islamic State captivity since 2014.

The convoy being transferred into Syria included 308 militants with their small arms and 331 civilians, Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

Islamic State will hand over one Hezbollah captive and the bodies of some Hezbollah forces and one Iranian fighter killed in battles across Syria, he said.

At the last stage of the deal, the two sides would exchange the bodies for the convoy of militants at a transit point in Syria, Nasrallah said.

Eleven Hezbollah fighters and seven Syrian soldiers had been killed in their offensive in the western Qalamoun region on Syria’s side of the border, he said.

The border battle has ended in “fully liberating Lebanese land and securing the border with Syria,” he said.

Both Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have billed the evacuation as a surrender by Islamic State.

“We do not bargain. We are in the position of the victor and are imposing conditions,” the head of Lebanon’s internal security agency, General Abbas Ibrahim, said on Sunday.

A commander in the pro-Assad military alliance said Syria and Hezbollah had accepted Islamic State’s evacuation rather than a fight to the end, to avert a bloody war of attrition.

Islamic State fighters were sheltering among civilians and to complete the offensive would have involved great bloodshed, the commander said.

An Islamic State fighter is seen in a bus as he departs from the Lebanon-Syria border zone in Qalamoun, Syria August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

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Syrian state television and a Hezbollah military media unit said the convoy left the western Qalamoun for its destination in eastern Syria.

The evacuees will travel across Syria under heavy security escort to Islamic State lines near Al-Bukamal in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, a Lebanese security source said.

The Syrian army and Hezbollah were communicating with Islamic State near Al-Bukamal to arrange the transfer of the convoy into jihadist territory, the source said.

Islamic State fighters were earlier seen burning heavy equipment and arms which they left in the border enclave.

Northeast Lebanon saw one of the worst spillovers of the Syrian conflict in 2014, when Islamic State and other militants briefly overran the border town of Arsal. The fate of nine Lebanese soldiers that Islamic State took captive in 2014 had remained unknown until Sunday.

Ibrahim, the Lebanese general, said the troops were almost certainly dead after recovering remains thought to belong to them. The news and the evacuation deal have sparked some public outcry in Lebanon that authorities had not been able to retrieve the soldiers alive.

Earlier this month, Nusra Front militants and a Syrian rebel group withdrew from their footholds along the border after accepting similar evacuation deals.

Those agreements came after a brief Hezbollah offensive that began at the end of July against militants of the ex-Nusra Front, which was al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria until last year.

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Hezbollah has maintained a strong presence in the parts of Syria near the border with Lebanon for years, helping Assad capture several rebel-held towns and villages there.

Inside Syria, Islamic State is retreating on many fronts, losing territory to separate offensives, including by the Russian-backed Syrian army and U.S.-backed militias.</s>A convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families reached an exchange point in eastern Syria on Tuesday, a Hezbollah military media unit said, where they will be transferred into IS-held territory under a ceasefire deal.

BEIRUT: Islamic State fighters and their families who had been inside an IS enclave on the Lebanon-Syria border reached an exchange point in eastern Syria on Tuesday from where they will head to IS-held territory, a Hezbollah military media unit said.

The transfer under Syrian military escort was agreed under a ceasefire deal. The convoy of buses and ambulances left the border region on Monday after a ceasefire took effect on Sunday.

The deal ended a week-long offensive with the Lebanese army on one front and Hezbollah with the Syrian army on the other against Islamic State's mountainous enclave straddling the Lebanon-Syria border.

For the first time in years, Lebanon now controls all of its border with Syria. Its southern border with Israel is patrolled by UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Having ousted Islamic State, the Lebanese army on Tuesday deployed across the area, planting its flag near the border, footage on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV showed.

A security source said there was an unknown number of mines left behind in the region, which might be difficult to remove as the army does not have maps of their location.

Mine-clearing work will start soon with the aim of letting people return to work in the mountainous area which includes fields and some quarries, the source said.</s>Beirut: A convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families have left the Lebanon-Syria border region under Syrian military escort, surrendering their enclave and travelling to eastern Syria after a week-long battle.

A line of ambulances and buses were shown on Syrian state television driving slowly through the arid countryside, the border's pale hills behind them, as they departed on Monday.

The transfer ends any insurgent presence on the border, an important goal for Lebanon and Hezbollah, and marks the first time Islamic State has publicly agreed to a forced evacuation from territory it held in Syria.

IS agreed a ceasefire deal that took effect on Sunday with the Lebanese army on one front and Hezbollah with the Syrian army on the other. The militants had lost much of their mountainous enclave straddling the border since the two offensives began on opposite sides of the frontier.

The Lebanese army has said its offensive against IS did not involve coordination with the Syrian army or Hezbollah.

Lebanon's Hezbollah has been a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through Syria's six-year war. The Iran-backed Shiite group has played a major role fighting Sunni militants at the border and has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to support the Assad government.

The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Monday that the group had accepted Islamic State's evacuation partly in order to find out the fate of nine Lebanese soldiers in IS captivity since 2014.

The convoy being transferred into Syria included 308 militants with their small arms and 331 civilians, Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

IS will hand over one Hezbollah captive and the bodies of some Hezbollah forces and one Iranian fighter killed in battles across Syria, he said.

At the last stage of the deal, the two sides would exchange the bodies for the convoy of militants at a transit point in Syria, Nasrallah said.

Eleven Hezbollah fighters and seven Syrian soldiers had been killed in their offensive in the western Qalamoun region on Syria's side of the border, he said.

The border battle has ended in "fully liberating Lebanese land and securing the border with Syria," he said.

Both Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have billed the evacuation as a surrender by Islamic State.

"We do not bargain. We are in the position of the victor and are imposing conditions," the head of Lebanon's internal security agency, General Abbas Ibrahim, said.

A commander in the pro-Assad military alliance said Syria and Hezbollah had accepted Islamic State's evacuation rather than a fight to the end, to avert a bloody war of attrition.

IS fighters were sheltering among civilians and to complete the offensive would have involved great bloodshed, the commander said.

Syrian state television and a Hezbollah military media unit said the convoy left the western Qalamoun for its destination in eastern Syria.

The evacuees will travel across Syria under heavy security escort to IS lines near al-Bukamal in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, a Lebanese security source said.

The Syrian army and Hezbollah were communicating with IS near al-Bukamal to arrange the transfer of the convoy into jihadist territory, the source said.

IS fighters were earlier seen burning heavy equipment and arms which they left in the border enclave.

Northeast Lebanon saw one of the worst spillovers of the Syrian conflict in 2014, when IS and other militants briefly overran the border town of Arsal.

Ibrahim, the Lebanese general, said the troops were almost certainly dead after recovering remains thought to belong to them. The news and the evacuation deal have sparked some public outcry in Lebanon that authorities had not been able to retrieve the soldiers alive.

Earlier this month, Nusra Front militants and a Syrian rebel group withdrew from their footholds along the border after accepting similar evacuation deals.

Those agreements came after a brief Hezbollah offensive that began at the end of July against militants of the ex-Nusra Front, which was al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until last year.

Hezbollah has maintained a strong presence in the parts of Syria near the border with Lebanon for years, helping the Assad regime capture several rebel-held towns and villages there.

Inside Syria, IS is retreating on many fronts, losing territory to separate offensives, including by the Russian-backed Syrian army and US-backed militias.</s>Hundreds of Islamic State militants have been bussed from a Lebanese-Syrian border region, in the jihadist group’s first publicly declared evacuation deal.

A convoy of some 600 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters and their families reached an exchange point in eastern Syria on Tuesday, where they would be transferred into Isil-held territory under a ceasefire deal.

The convoy of buses and ambulances left the border area on Monday under Syrian military escort after a ceasefire took effect on Sunday.

Under the agreement, the bodies of eight Lebanese soldiers and one Iranian military adviser killed by Isil in Syria were to be returned.</s>Lebanon’s army has announced a ceasefire in its offensive against ISIL fighters at the country’s northeast border with Syria.

The ceasefire took effect at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday in order to determine the fate of Lebanese soldiers who are in ISIL captivity, the military statement said.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom said that the ceasefire was a significant development in Lebanon, given that “the army seemed very confident just a couple of days ago that they were going to rid those areas of the last remnants of ISIL fighters”.

“Now the Lebanese government is sending out a message that they care for their soldiers, and are trying to ensure that these soldiers can be released as quickly as possible,” he said.

The fate of nine soldiers that ISIL, also known as ISIS, took captive then remains unknown.

 Syria, Hezbollah ceasefire

Shortly after, the Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Syrian army, which are engaged in another offensive against ISIL on the other side of the frontier in Syria along the border with Lebanon, announced a ceasefire that took effect at the same time.

A Hezbollah military media unit said the ceasefire took place “under a full agreement to end the battle in west Qalamoun against [ISIL]”.

At the time of writing, there were no reports of ISIL fighters failing to respect submit to both ceasefires.

The Lebanese army has been battling ISIL fighters in their last border foothold, near the town of Ras Baalbek.

The assault began last week, coinciding with the Hezbollah and the Syrian army offensive in Syria’s western Qalamoun region.

The Lebanese army said it is not coordinating its military operations with the Syrian army.

Northeast Lebanon saw one of the worst spillovers of Syria’s war into Lebanon in 2014, when ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and other armed groups briefly overran the border town of Arsal.

Any coordination between the Lebanese army and either the Syrian army or Hezbollah would be politically sensitive in Lebanon and could jeopardise the sizeable US military aid the country receives.

Last week, Lebanon and Hezbollah each announced they had made significant gains against ISIL fighters, driving them back into a smaller part of the arid hills on the border.</s>In the past 24 hours, Russian aviation destroyed terrorist targets in Deir ez-Zor amid the Syrian army’s offensive to free the area around the city from the Daesh terrorist group.

“Russian aviation continued to successfully attack Daesh targets, destroying four tanks, 16 all-terrain vehicles armed with heavy machine guns, six heavy vehicles with ammunition, and two fortified artillery positions.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Daesh terrorists are regrouping and preparing fortified areas in Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian government troops’ advance in the Euphrates Valley region with Russian aerial assistance.

“The effective actions of Russian warplanes allowed the Syrian government forces under the command of Gen. Hassan Sukhel to continue the offensive along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River to Deir ez-Zor aimed to lift its siege.”

Daesh is transfering heavy military equipment, including tanks and pickup trucks equipped with large-caliber weapons and mortars to Deir ez-Zor amid the Syrian army’s operation, the ministry said.

“While realizing that the foothold around Deir ez-Zor is the last stronghold of international terrorists on Syrian soil, militants are transfering heavy equipment, including tanks and all-terrain vehicles armed with large-caliber guns and mortars.”

The Syrian army and self-defense units supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces have significantly advanced toward Deir ez-Zor from three directions, the Russian General Staff said earlier this week.

The lifting of the siege of Deir ez-Zor will lead to the complete defeat of the most combat-effective formations of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria, the chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate said on Friday.

Deir ez-Zor, located on the shores of the Euphrates River to the northeast of Damascus, and a military airfield near the city have been besieged by Daesh for over three years, with food and ammunition only being delivered by air.</s>Truce announced to pave the way for negotiations over the fate of government soldiers currently in ISIL captivity.

Lebanon's army has announced a ceasefire in its offensive against ISIL fighters at the country's northeast border with Syria.

The ceasefire takes effect at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday in order to determine the fate of the nine Lebanese soldiers who are in ISIL captivity, the military statement said.

Speaking from Beirut, Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom said that this ceasefire was a significant development in Lebanon, considering the fact that "the army seemed very confident just a couple of days ago that they were going to rid those areas of the last remnants of ISIL fighters."

"Now the Lebanese government is sending out a message that they care for their soldiers, and are tyring to ensure that these soldiers can be released as quickly as possible," Jamjoom said.

Northeast Lebanon saw one of the worst spillovers of Syria's war into Lebanon in 2014, when ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, and other armed groups briefly overran the border town of Arsal.

The fate of nine soldiers that ISIL, also known as ISIS, took captive then remains unknown.

The Lebanese army has been battling ISIL fighters in their last border foothold, near the town of Ras Baalbek.

The attack began last week, coinciding with an offensive that Hezbollah and the Syrian army launched against ISIL on the other side of the frontier in Syria’s western Qalamoun region.</s>BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:00 P.M.) – Several buses arrived this morning in the western Qalamoun region of Syria to transport the remaining 350 Islamic State (ISIL) terrorists to the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

The 350 Islamic State terrorists will be joined by their 500 family members as they leave Jaroud Jarajeer and Jaroud Qarah for Deir Ezzor Governorate city of Albukamal near the Iraqi border.

Once these Islamic State terrorists leave the area, this region of Syria will be ISIL-free for the first time in two years.</s>Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) terrorists have started moving tanks and other heavy weaponry to the Deir ez-Zor area in a desperate attempt to hold their positions in the region following the successful offensive of the Syrian Army, the Russian defense ministry has said."Following the successful offensive action of the Syrian Armed Forces group supported by the Russian Air Forces in the Ghanem Ali area, Islamic State terrorists try to regroup and establish fortified defensive positions in the Deir ez-Zor area," the ministry said in statement.The ministry said further that the actions of the jihadists apparently show that they "recognize the fact that the staging area around Deir ez-Zor is the last stronghold of the international terrorists on the Syrian soil."Over the last 24 hours, Russian aircraft destroyed "four tanks, 16 all-terrain vehicles with high-caliber machine guns mounted on them as well as two fortified positions that had gun lines," the statement says.Syrian government forces supported by Russian military planes are continuing their offensive on terrorists entrenched around Deir ez-Zor and are now advancing alongside the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, the statement added.On Sunday, the Russian defense ministry said the offensive operation of Syrian government forces supported by Russian warplanes led to the defeat of the "most capable and best armed group of [Islamic State] in the Euphrates River valley."The terrorists suffered heavy losses during the battle near the town of Ghanem Ali, located in the eastern part of the Raqqa governorate south of the Euphrates, the ministry said, with around 800 terrorists killed in the operation. Some 13 tanks, 29 pickup trucks with mounted high-caliber machine guns as well as nine artillery pieces were also destroyed in the armed clash Sunday.The key Euphrates city of Deir ez-Zor has been under terrorist siege for two and a half years after being cut off from government-held areas in the May 2015 jihadist offensive on Palmyra. The surrounded city, alongside a neighboring military base and airfield, have been sustained with food and ammunition by Russian and Syrian transport planes and helicopters., according to General Sergey Rudskoy, spokesman for the Russian General Staff. The Russian Air Force also significantly intensified its operations against Islamic State in August, upping the number of sorties to 60-70 per day as the push for Deir ez-Zor gains momentum.While the Syrian Army and allied forces are pushing toward the besieged city, the situation in the enclave remains tense.In September 2016, jihadists managed to capture several key positions in the area in an offensive that coincided with a US-led coalition airstrike that mistakenly hit Syrian Army positions in the city which left some 200 soldiers dead or injured.The extremists then exploited this success, eventually slicing the enclave in two in January, disrupting the supply line between the airfield and the rest of the stronghold.</s>Syria's state news agency says buses taking hundreds of Islamic State militants and their families from the border area between Lebanon and Syria have arrived to eastern Syria.

SANA says the buses with the militants and their families arrived on Tuesday in Deir el-Zour province, an IS-stronghold.

Some 600 militants were allowed to leave as part of a deal, negotiated by Lebanon's Hezbollah, in exchange for identifying the location of the remains of Lebanese soldiers captured by IS in 2014, and later killed. The deal has provoked controversy in Lebanon, as some voiced opposition to negotiations with the militants

IS' departure leaves the border between Syria and Lebanon free of extremists for the first time in years.
ISIL militants and their families, estimated to be around 600 people, begin to leave their strongholds on the Lebanon–Syria border and Qalamun Mountains for the Deir ez-Zor Governorate under Syrian military escort. A ceasefire was reached between warring parties yesterday.