Hezbollah says it killed IS commander in Lebanon

BEIRUT – The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says it has killed the Islamic State military commander for the Qaa border area in Lebanon, where a series of suicide bombings and other attacks killed five people earlier this week.

Hezbollah’s media outlet Al-Manar said the group, which shares security responsibilities with the Lebanese army in areas along the eastern border with Syria, killed a commander known as Abu Khatab in a rocket attack. The army did not release any comment.

Hezbollah, which also participates in Lebanon’s government, has blamed the Qaa attacks on IS.

Violence from neighbouring Syria’s civil war has spilled across the border in the past. Islamic State and al-Qaida militants briefly seized the Lebanese border town of Arsal in 2014, before security forces pushed them back across the frontier.