evidence: In Pictures ‘We hardly ever leave’: Life in Lebanon’s border town of Arsal [...] Arsal, Lebanon – Ahmed Bareesh, lying in his tent on a thin mattress under a blanket, struggles to sit upright even with his wife’s support. [...] Arsal was declared ISIL-free in August 2017 by both the Lebanese army and Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group and political party that has been fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.