Report: Hizbullah Fighters Advance to Syria-Jordan Border
Hizbullah fighters have been advancing swiftly into southern Syria and have reached the flashpoint southern town of Daraa near the border with Jordan, media reports said on Tuesday.
A source close to Hizbullah told the Kuwaiti al-Qabas newspaper that Hizbullah fighters played a significant role in helping the regime troops to take full power of the strategic town of Kherbet Ghazleh near the highway linking the capital Damascus with Jordan.
The source pointed out that Hizbullah fighters are not just groups backing the army regime but comprehensive fighting units that includes a full logistic team.
It said that Hizbullah's military leadership is organizing the transfer of the units and providing them with weapons.
Last week, rebels withdrew from Khirbet Ghazaleh area after several days of fighting.
Government forces conducted house-to-house searches Monday as troops reopened the highway, restoring the supply line between Damascus and the contested provincial capital of Daraa.
Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged recently that members of his group are fighting inside Syria and suggested Iran and other states could intervene to support the Syrian regime against rebel fighters.
The party, a staunch backer of Bashar Assad's regime, had announced several burials in past months, without elaborating on the circumstances of its members' deaths.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition say the army is backed by elite fighters from Hizbullah.
Hizbullah's involvement in Syria's spiraling conflict has been condemned by the Syrian opposition, which views it as a "declaration of war," and by the March 14 alliance in Lebanon.
Since it began in March 2011, Syria's conflict has fueled local tensions between the communities in Lebanon, with bouts of street fighting and kidnappings.
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