Hezbollah fighters attack Syrian al Qaeda gathering along border

Lebanese Hezbollah militants on Wednesday attacked a gathering of leaders of Syria’s Nusra Front and other insurgents in an area near Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, killing three of them, the group’s television channel said.

Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, which is a staunch ally of Syria’s President Bashar al Assad, has sent hundreds of combatants to fight alongside his forces. The television channel gave no details other than the operation took place in an rugged mountainous area along the border that witnesses frequent clashes.

The station said the fighters killed three militant leaders, including Nusra Front’s local chief in the area.

Hezbollah’s leader said on Tuesday his Lebanon-based militant group would launch an attack inside Syria against al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the mountain region along the countries’ border.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah did not give a date when the assault would be launched, but local media and the Syria opposition speculated could start in the Qalamoun area.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday’s attack took place in that area.

The Lebanese Shiite fighters clashed with gunmen from Nusra Front in a different border zone on Tuesday.

Lebanese officials have warned Hezbollah against launching a cross-border attack, which they say would drag Lebanon, which suffered a civil war in 1975-90, further into the Syrian conflict.