Hezbollah slams US over Daesh convoy

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on Saturday accused US-led forces of stranding a convoy of Daesh fighters and civilians headed for Syria's Deir Ezzor province under an evacuation deal.

The convoy carrying hundreds of Daesh fighters as well as civilians was meant to travel from the Lebanon-Syria border to militants-held territory in eastern Syria under a deal Hezbollah helped broker.

But the US-led coalition has pounded the road to Deir Ezzor with air strikes to prevent the convoy reaching the Daesh-held town of Albukamal on the Iraqi border.

Hezbollah, which has defended the deal to remove Daesh fighters from the Lebanese frontier, said US-led forces had effectively stranded most of the convoy's 17 buses in the Syrian desert, beyond government reach. "They are also preventing anyone from reaching them even to provide humanitarian assistance to families, the sick and wounded and the elderly," the Hezbollah statement said.

The convoy left the Lebanon-Syria border region on Monday, but Hezbollah said six of the buses remained in Syrian government-held territory.

The deal, brokered by Hezbollah with the support of its Syrian regime ally after a week-long offensive against Daesh, has been fiercely criticised by US-led forces and the Iraqi government. The international coalition fighting Daesh has said it is unacceptable for militants to be transported to the border with Iraq, where pro-government forces this week ousted the extremist group from the northern city of Tal Afar.

In a statement overnight, the coalition said it had sent a message to Damascus through Syria's ally Russia to say that "the Coalition will not condone Daesh fighters moving further east to the Iraqi border."

"The Coalition values human life and has offered suggestions on a course of action to save the women and children from any further suffering as a result of the Syrian regime's agreement," it added, without providing further details.

The coalition said it would not strike the convoy, but acknowledged hitting Daesh fighters and vehicles "seeking to facilitate the movement of Daesh fighters to the border area of our Iraqi partners." Hezbollah accused US forces of hypocrisy, saying they had previously allowed Desh fighters to flee territories in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has described the deal as "unacceptable" and an "insult to the Iraqi people".

Source: Khaleej Times