Hezbollah troops aid Syrian government advance on border town
Battle for Qusair believed to be edging in favour of
loyalist forces, and role of Hezbollah marks new
escalation in crisis
By Martin Chulov
guardian.co.uk
Monday, May 20, 2013
People inspect the rubble after Syrian government air
strikes in Qusair. Photograph: Qusair Lens/AP
Syrian and Hezbollah troops have pushed deep into the
strategic border town of Qusair after a ferocious
artillery and mortar blitz that is thought to have killed
more than 50 residents and laid bare the Lebanese
militia's direct support for the Assad regime.
The battle for the town, which lies at a crucial junction
between Damascus and Homs, is believed to be edging in
favour of loyalist forces who had hammered rebel-held
areas with overwhelming firepower before launching a
much-anticipated advance late on Saturday.
But rebels in Qusair insist they have not lost control of
key areas and have vowed to withstand the advance of
Hezbollah militants from the Lebanese border to the south
and Syrian troops approaching from the north.
Qusair-based rebels are mainly a homegrown mix of
civilians and army defectors. However, Jabhat al-Nusra, a
group with links to al-Qaida, has gained both in
prominence and numbers in recent months and is believed
to be leading the defence of the southern outskirts where
it is clashing directly with Hezbollah.
The fighting of the past 48 hours marks the first time in
the Syrian civil war, or anywhere else, that Sunni al-
Qaida and Shia Hezbollah have fought a direct and large-
scale engagement. Members of both groups had clashed
sporadically in other parts of the country over the past
two years, often unknowingly. But the current
confrontation breaks new ground in the conflict and
sharply underlines the sectarian element of Syria's war.
President Bashar al-Assad is from the minority Alawite
sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
Across the border in Lebanon, a hospital and medical
clinics in the Hezbollah stronghold of the Bekaa valley,
10 miles from the fighting, were seeking blood donations
to help treat wounded militants. Sources in the Beirut
suburb of Daheyah, where the group's command post is
located, said wounded fighters had also been taken to
hospitals there.
Activists in Qusair suggested up to 30 Hezbollah members
may have been killed and dozens more injured. Those
figures are impossible to verify.
What is clear is that Hezbollah's prominent role marks
yet another escalation in a crisis that continues to
alarm the region and force a mass exodus of Syrian
citizens into neighbouring states. The UN's refugee
agency (UNHCR) estimates that more than 1.5 million
Syrians have fled to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Up to
several million more remain internally displaced.
Continues at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/20/syrian-hezbollah-troops-advance-qusair
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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