Talk:Qalamoun offensive (May–June 2015)

Battle over?

Its Over or not. Some articles claims fighting its still taking place.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/May-17/298261-army-pounds-militant-positions-outside-arsal.ashx
Mr.User200 (talk) 22:09, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

The article talks about Lebanese Army artillery strikes against the rebels. I remind the Lebanese Army was not involved in this offensive. EkoGraf (talk) 22:43, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Victory?

I notice that the sole citation given for the result in the infobox is to a speech by Hassan Nasrallah—a wonderfully impartial source in this matter, I'm sure. Meanwhile, the FP article cited at the very end of the main battle section seems to tell a slightly different tale: "with the battle still unfinished and the sound of explosions continuing to ring in the air"; "Islamic State fighters remain in the northern part of the mountain range, where the battle has yet to come"; "Qalamoun is not Hezbollah’s only ongoing battleground". Comparing this to e.g. 2015 Idlib offensive, where the capture of a provincial capital is qualified as a "partial" victory on the grounds that a nearby area was not captured, one wonders why such "nuance" is not found here. For consistency's sake at least, this should also be called a "partial victory", as there is obviously more to come in this saga. ~~ Lothar von Richthofen (talk) 07:19, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

This article was about the offensive to clear out strongpoints of al-Nusra forces on the Syrian side of the border which all sources confirm at this point (check the latest pro-opposition maps of the area). This was the aim of this specific offensive - al-Nusra; ISIS-held areas were not the target at this time. A separate offensive to clear out ISIS on the Lebanese side of the border, as well as Nusra holdouts near Arsal, is yet to come and has been announced to happen at a point in the near future. The sole citation as you put it does talk about a speech by Hassan Nasrallah where he said they captured most of the mountains, however the source also has a paragraph where it itself confirms most of the area has been captured, regardless of what Nasrallah is saying. Also, something being described as an ongoing battleground does not mean there is an ongoing military operation. However, so there wouldn't be only one source, I will add a few more that are more recent. EkoGraf (talk) 15:48, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

I have added a source [1] confirming that after capturing dozens of rebel bases Hezbollah managed to push the rebels to the outskirts of Arsal, which is across the border in Lebanon. EkoGraf (talk) 16:03, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

There is this new source [2] which describes the current fighting at Arsal as a first phase in an assault to clear out rebels from near Arsal. Which means a separate operation from the one that took place across the border in Syria has started. We may create a new article to cover the current Arsal offensive if it becomes notable enough. EkoGraf (talk) 16:04, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

Fighting has not subsided at all. There are reported battles and advances for the Syrian Arab Army and Hezbollah on an almost daily basis by SOHR, Lebanese news sources, etc. For example, just today [3] [4] I propose we change the tone of the article into ongoing and continue coverage of the operation. - Fedayee (talk) 00:38, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

Like I said, 90 percent of the current fighting is reported to be on the Lebanese side of the border at Arsal. The previous advances on the Syrian side of the border were part of an operation officially declared to be over and sources even call this new round of fighting a first phase, which means they consider it a new operation. EkoGraf (talk) 11:44, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

After more operations took place today I have reopened the article. EkoGraf (talk) 19:45, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

I'm quite sure, we shouldn't close the Qalamun offensive with "Hezbollah-led victory". Altough Hezbollah managed to expel the rebels/ISIS from north of the mountains, they have switched to Zabadani which is in this region. Logic ?

It's a new and separate offensive for which we will most likely create a new article. EkoGraf (talk) 11:31, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150518095655/http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/hezbollah-advances-in-al-qalamoun-area-while-the-clashes-re-erupt-in-al-yarmouk-camp/ to http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/hezbollah-advances-in-al-qalamoun-area-while-the-clashes-re-erupt-in-al-yarmouk-camp/
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150518095658/http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/8-militiamen-of-hezbollah-killed-in-al-qalamoun-in-the-last-48-hours-and-shells-land-on-al-yarmouk-camp/ to http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/8-militiamen-of-hezbollah-killed-in-al-qalamoun-in-the-last-48-hours-and-shells-land-on-al-yarmouk-camp/
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150515021051/http://www.syriahr.com:80/en/2015/05/85-killed-during-clashes-in-qalamoun/ to http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/85-killed-during-clashes-in-qalamoun/
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150518100643/http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/clashes-air-strikes-and-human-losses-in-reef-dimashq/ to http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/05/clashes-air-strikes-and-human-losses-in-reef-dimashq/

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