 On 21 July 2017, a Syrian Army commander stated that his forces and Hezbollah had launched a joint campaign to recapture the remaining territory under militant control near the Lebanon-Syria border, attacking the outskirts of Arsal.The Lebanese Army meanwhile assumed a defensive position in Arsal.In 2019, the Lebanese central government decided to demolish the refuges' huts built of hollow blocks over the war years on the grounds of missing building permits.