Hizbullah Losses in Syria Steep, but Morale High
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Hassan is just 18 and a fighter with Hizbullah, which sent nearly 2,000 men to support the Syrian army's assault on the central town of Qusayr this week.
His father Ali was also among the ranks of the Hizbullah men battling rebels in the key town, many of them holed up in tunnels.
Hassan, a gunner, came back to his home in Bekaa's Baalbeck city on Wednesday after three days of grueling combat.
His father did not.
Hassan discovered that Ali had been killed on day one of the fierce firefights. Together they had left to fight in Qusayr, but now his 43-year-old father was dead -- shot twice in the chest.
"We were not in the same place, but I had a hunch, a weight on my chest. I was thinking of him all the time," Hassan admitted before breaking down in tears.
He quickly regained his composure: "I must be strong. From now on, I have to look after my mother and sister, then I will have to go back to the battle to finish what we started."
Hassan said the resistance put up by rebels in Qusayr had taken him and his comrades by surprise.
"On the first day, we advanced through the alleyways towards the center of Qusayr, and then suddenly the rebels attacked us from behind," he told Agence France Presse.
"We could not see any fighters, we thought there was no one there," he added, still wearing his combat fatigues, a Hizbullah scarf draped over his shoulders and a weapon in his hand.
"When we had pushed through two thirds of the city, towards the north, they came out of tunnels and opened fire on us. We had a lot of fighters killed and wounded, all of them shot in the back," he said.
The regime assault on the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, in central Homs province, began on Sunday.
Troops backed by fighters from Hizbullah, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, stormed the town after seizing a string of nearby villages.
Hizbullah forces were organized into 17 units of 100 men each, before storming the city from the east, south and west, a source close to the group said.
The town, which lies near the border with Lebanon, is home to some 25,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It is a key prize for the rebels, a conduit through which weapons and fighters can be channeled from Lebanon.
Qusayr is also important for Assad's forces because of its strategic location between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, the rear base for the regime.
Hassan said hundreds of well-armed and organized rebels put up a fierce fight.
"It took us a long time to eliminate them," he said.
"We had to search each house or burn it. Some tunnels were destroyed but others are still there and the rebels are still hiding in them."
Over the past eight months, the Observatory says, Hizbullah has lost 104 fighters in fighting in central Homs province, which borders Lebanon, and around a revered Shiite pilgrimage site near Damascus.
Hizbullah spokesman Ibrahim Musawi denied those figures, without providing an alternative number, and a source close to the movement said it had lost 75 dead.
Despite the losses, Hassan said that the hardest was yet to come for Hizbullah, as they will have to take the town's northern neighborhoods where most residents and rebel fighters are dug in.
"It is very difficult to take the last part. There are snipers everywhere. It will cost us dearly, but we will take it," he said with determination.
His mother Umm Hassan, 45, recalled the day her husband and son left for the battle. "When my husband left the house, I did not say goodbye to him," she said.
She maintained that the fight in Syria is vital for Hizbullah.
"It is much more important to fight in Qusayr now than against Israel because there are many (rebels) from different nationalities who are even more dangerous enemies than Israel," she insisted.
The Syrian regime says fighters from 28 countries have joined the rebels.
"My husband went to fight over there before they could attack us in Lebanon. We are not fighting against the Syrians but against our enemies who are in Syria," Umm Hassan said.
24 May 2013, 16:13
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What I am scared of is what will happen when the regime in Syria collapses and the rebels turn their guns and forces on the Shai of Lebanon? Don't the Shai think of this? What on earth do they have in Syria which will sooner or later be Sunni governed as they are the absolute majority. This is how thinks turn out in all the Arab world. Gone are the days when a bunch of people like bashar rule by force. The fear line has dropped and broken, and what we are seeing is the will of the people prvailing. there might be external forces helping the rebel, but the majority are syrian trying ti liberate their country.
24 May 2013, 16:31
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If the morale is high then, as the Nostras already know (NostraGabbyMarch14, NostraBenzona... and lately NostraHarrier) this is because of two reasons:
1. The count of the Syrians rebels from the remote Syrian provinces in Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Chechnya and parts of Europe is negligible?
2. The "ASSad" regime has 5 more days until this coming Wednesday before it collapses again for the 7,926th time?
You go, Nostras. Awaiting fresh updates from the master of all Nostras, Dr. Arreet 7akeh, the man who alone carries the cross of amn al moujtama3 al massi7i tole3 art 7akeh bi art 7akeh.
24 May 2013, 16:55
00
Israel and the United States , Saudis all want Hezbollah eliminated. They are right to fight and you cowards who sit on your brains and type snide comments have no souls. I am not a Muslim. I think all religions are worthless . Hezbollah is to be admired . They are consistent and act logically when faced with existential challenges. Without the resistence the flag of Israel would be flying all the way up to the Tyre River and Harari would be a Sabbath Goy.This could still happen.Lebanese owe Hezbollah gratitude for having the guts to fight. If the slafists win in Syria there is Civil War in Iraq and Lebanon
24 May 2013, 16:59
319
Je veux chanter pour ceux qui sont loin de chez eux.... C'est quelquechose qui fait mal, qui fait mal.
Allah ma3kon if your dumb enough to leave your warm nests and families behind for a sum of money.
24 May 2013, 17:01
322
It's easier to attack civilians defending their homes with knives and cheap guns than firing at a merkava. They chose la facilité... Qu'est-ce qu'ils sont minables.
24 May 2013, 17:15
317
Vox populi, vox dei. My friends here share my view on this particular subject.
24 May 2013, 17:02
321
He quickly regained his composure: "I must be strong. From now on, I have to look after my mother and sister, then I will have to go back to the battle to finish what we started."
Well hassan if you want to go back to the battle, it is up to you. But, if you do go, I hope you will never come back coz Lebanon is much better off without filth such as you.
24 May 2013, 17:12
320
This article is proof that Hezbollah is more of a cult than a political party or resistance. People are brain washed and hopeless. We are stuck with them and their ideologies. Our only way out is (unfortunately) their elimination in Syria. Nasrallah = Jimmy Jones.
ليس ما قبل سورية الأسد مثل ما بعد سورية الأسد
24 May 2013, 17:28
318
yes as they cover their coffins with the hezbi flag not the lebanese one! they would have if they were "resisting" for lebanon! LOL
24 May 2013, 18:05
314
yes FT for able minded people that means that their allegiance to hizbocrap is above that of Lebanon's
24 May 2013, 19:02
36
your frantic posting only shows how enraged you are poor Ft that your pimps cannot have a decisive victory in qousayr... so to try and get your spirits up you just take into derision all the posts against your pimps and try to feel superior....
but you are only showing how desperate and weak you are as this is the reactions of desperation...
keep on doing so you are soo entertaining and prove us how low one can become to defend his masters...
24 May 2013, 17:19
316
hezbis together with their FPM puppets show their true hypocrit faces... after claiming that they were in syria only to defend lebanese villages they are no more afraid now to tell the true reason of their presence...
desperate to back bashar as they have lots to lose... so good for disassociation policy, they no more care to bring war to lebanon and the first sign is how they divert the attention by igniting battles in tripoli so that lebanese forget their losses in qousayr...
they went there with arrogance believing they ll wipe the city but they still find resistance... planes tanks missiles hezbi forces and still cannot win!! LOL
this explain the many posts from M8ers trying desperately to defend their iranian militia....
24 May 2013, 17:29
36
but moral high?!?!
losing a battle is heartbreaking but losing yourself of excellence or worth is tragedy.
24 May 2013, 17:32
215
Imm Hassan you are wrong. Your chiite family is living in lebanon, it is represented in parliament, chiites are part of a multiconfessional country with moderate sunnites and christians. Why on earth did your husband needed to die for the wars of others? These wahabi islamists of syria do not concern us. They have been created as a reaction to Assad's neostalinist criminal policies. They concern syria and are not interested in lebanon. You have been brainwashed and widowed uselessly. God help you in your ignorance.
24 May 2013, 18:03
46
I found this article so interesting... It's an insight into how they think.
24 May 2013, 18:37
39
My morale is high too, because I am so excited Hizb is fighting in Syria..send more fighters...keep sending them..the more that die in Syria the better for Lebanon...
24 May 2013, 18:38
46
Hijacked?? Did you hijack jounieh and kaslik??? Did the Palestinians hijack Palestine from the Jews?? So people who defend their own homes are hijackers?? You are a racist Zionist I'm sorry to say, I remind you that even aoun is against your blunder
24 May 2013, 18:41
38
To Israel any Palestinian who fights back is a terrorist, to hizbala any Muslim who fights back is takfiri, two faces of the same coin. Good Muslims to hi bala are folks like abdelraheem Mrad, miqati, Osama salad, I.e slaves, the free ones are either Israeli or if they hold weapons takfiris
24 May 2013, 19:03
46
Uneducated and have no hope....the 300$ a month they get from HA is best they can do. And now they go die for it, I love how he says we were surprised by resistance they put...they live there dummy, what they expect them to surrender? the hospitals in Lebanon are flooded with HA fighters, and bet the Lebanese state is covering the cost of their treatment.
24 May 2013, 19:06
36
And never mind that her husband and the rest of HA are foreigners considered enemies by the syrian people who once took them in to help them.
24 May 2013, 19:16
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Avenger, so how long have you supported Al Qaeda? You are here so u do read news. The Syrian army is on the side shooting at Al Qaeda. You on the other hand are on the other side shooting WITH Al Qaeda at the Syrian Army. 50 to 60 sorties is just not enough. May God bless the people of Syria and bring peace to them, Amen
24 May 2013, 19:53
32
All of your views are so skewed. Your posts point to pure hatred. Sunni vs Shiite. Very sad. Both Muslim but bigger enemies than brothers. No one with this much hate deserves the right to speak in contempt about " Zionists and Israel" . How appalling. What religion interpretation has done to the ignorants. Keep on fighting while the world sits and laughs tragically.
24 May 2013, 19:54
35
And if I steel a box of ghandour biscuit from goodies I'll be locked up at Roumieh for 10 years. Go figure...araf!
24 May 2013, 19:57
44
Flame thrower, so, thugs are free to roam around....after attacking the ISF, then the Meqdads can be released?
Following your POV Hezbollah has a huge arsenal, then anyone should do the same?
I honestly hope you don't beleive in what you type....because it's frightening!
24 May 2013, 20:55
32
Yes, these idiots did not die in vein. They are heroes, and I am sure the Persians and Assad are throwing a nice joyful party for them and eating good food. Just get the heck out of Lebanese lands and take the Persians, Wahabies, Palestinians, their arms, their issues with you to Syria, Iran, Israel Palestine, Saudi Arabia or a cave in Afghanistan.
24 May 2013, 21:37
00
The hezbollah chose confessional solidarity instead the interests of Lebanon. They are discredited forever...
24 May 2013, 21:57
02
Yes, bel'air where Will Smith lives of course, not the Arabic meaning ;-)
25 May 2013, 02:23
02
Nothing new. Filthy militia. Thank you Syria for exposing their true agenda. Jihadist duty = killing Sinni
25 May 2013, 06:22
10
Do you guys have anything better to do? look at you, you got dragged into this war fighting with words and hate rather which is worse than weapons.
