BEIRUT (Sputnik) — Lebanon's Hezbollah warned on Saturday that if the aircraft of the international coalition against Daesh did not stop blocking buses with Daesh militants and their families in Syrian desert, people might die.
The militants and their relatives were allowed passage from the border between Syria and Lebanon to the Deir ez-Zor governorate in Syria in exchange for information about captured Lebanese soldiers and Hezbollah fighters.
"The US aircraft have blocked the buses transporting Daesh militants and their families in the middle of the desert… If this situation continues, these families, some of which include pregnant women, are doomed to die," the political movement said.
The political movement warned that a strike on the convoy would lead to deaths of not only militants, but women, children and seniors.
The Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve said earlier in the day that it had not struck the convoy itself, only Daesh fighters and vehicles. The coalition had previously said that it had only struck the road ahead of the convoy as it tried to pass from territory held by the Syrian government into an area controlled by Daesh.
Lebanese soldiers and security forces members were kidnapped in August 2014 during the attack on the Lebanese town of Aarsal. The captives of Daesh were killed, those held by the group formerly known as al Nusra Front were freed through negotiations.
Earlier in August, the Lebanese military launched an offensive to clear the territories bordering Syria from Daesh militants. The Lebanese armed forces carried out the operation without coordination with the Syrian forces or Hezbollah militants, who also started a similar campaign to clear Daesh from the Syrian territories.
