Speaker Nabih Berri described as an “achievement” the recent Hizbullah operation against the jihadist al-Nusra Front group in the outskirts of Arsal, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

“What happened in the outskirts is a great achievement that is in its final stages,” Berri was quoted as telling his visitors.

The second phase of a ceasefire deal reached between Hizbullah and the jihadist al-Nusra Front group militants is due on Monday, amid reports that top Nusra official Abu Malek al-Talli has already moved to the border town of Arsal and will likely be flown to Turkey later on, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported.

Hizbullah's al-Manar TV station reported Sunday that the group was exchanging the bodies of dead fighters with al-Nusra Front along the Lebanese-Syrian border in the first stage of a settlement that would restore order to the border region.

Hizbullah said it is handing over the bodies of nine Nusra fighters in exchange for the bodies of five of its own who were killed in two weeks of battles along the frontier.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hailed on Saturday Hizbullah's fighters who were killed during a battle to “eliminate” al-Nusra Front group militants from the outskirts of Arsal.

“We are waiting for the Lebanese army to conclude the operation in Arsal's outskirts, meanwhile we greet the martyrs of Hizbullah who have fallen during the first stage of the mission,” said Jumblat in a tweet.

In light of battle reinforcements taken by the military forces to oust the Islamic State group's militants from Lebanon's eastern border area, the Lebanese Forces said the expected battle in Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa is different from the one waged in the outskirts of Arsal, al-Jouhmouria daily reported on Saturday.

“The battle in the outskirts of Ras Baalbek differs in form and content from the battle in the outskirts of Arsal,” LF sources told the daily.

The Lebanese Army is gearing for a battle against the Islamic State group militants on the eastern borders in the al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek which will reportedly “begin within 72 hours,” al-Mustaqbal daily said on Saturday.

Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra said Hizbullah has “violated Lebanon's sovereignty” and “overstepped the army's role” when it decided to wage a battle against militants in the outskirts of Arsal.

Lebanon's army shelled the positions of the jihadist Islamic State group entrenched in the outskirts of the border town of al-Qaa and on the heights of Ras Baalbek's outskirts, the National News Agency reported Friday.

NNA said the military forces have monitored suspicious movements.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri continued his meetings in Washington where he met at the Capitol Hill Thursday with US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations headed by Sen. Bob Corker and Senator Ben Cardin.

An agreement to evacuate besieged al-Nusra Front militants from Arsal's outskirts will be reached “within days,” General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said on Thursday, hours after a ceasefire started between the jihadist group and Hizbullah.

“The terms of the agreement are confidential and what I can say is that a ceasefire is certainly underway,” said Ibrahim after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.