Syria Army Says Captured Rebels in Qusayr's North with Hizbullah's Support
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian troops have captured much of the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, in central Homs province, squeezing opposition fighters into the north of the strategic town, a military officer told Agence France Presse on Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said regime forces backed by members of Hizbullah were bombing northern areas of the city, encircling rebel fighters there.
"The armed men are surrounded on all sides, there is no escape for them now," the officer told an AFP journalist accompanying army forces in the embattled town.
The regime uses the term "armed men" to refer to the rebel forces fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"The battle will continue until the complete liberation of Qusayr. We're in the second and penultimate phase of the fight," the officer said.
The Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, began on Sunday their assault on Qusayr.
They advanced into the south, east and west of the city, quickly claiming the municipality building in the center of town.
The eastern part of the town, which has been abandoned by residents, has effectively been transformed into a military barracks, the AFP journalist said.
Armored vehicles, military positions and fortifications can been seen in every street and on every corner.
Soldiers are posted on all the buildings overlooking the northern part of the town.
"There are many snipers who are trying to infiltrate buildings to monitor army movements in the secured areas," another army officer says.
At the entrance to a bakery, soldiers drink coffee and smoke cigarettes, while another group keeps a close eye on the main road, "to stop any infiltration by armed men," one of them said.
The army says it now controls the road linking Qusayr to the Lebanese Bekaa city of Baalbeck, a stronghold of Hizbullah which is allied to the Syrian regime.
Qusayr is strategically important for both the rebels and the regime.
For the rebels, the town of 25,000 people is a conduit on a route along which weapons and fighters arrive from Lebanon.
The regime wants to control the town to deny the rebels their strategic prize and also keep open the road between Damascus and the coast, which runs by Qusayr.
The Observatory reported violent clashes in the areas of Hamdiyeh and Arjuneh, as well as Dabaa airport, north of the city of Qusayr.
"The regime forces are trying to isolate Dabaa airport from the town to completely encircle the rebel groups," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, "is using heavy artillery and mortars" in the fight against the rebels, he added.
The Observatory said at least 67 people had been killed across Syria on Friday, including 18 soldiers, 17 civilians and 32 rebel fighters.
24 May 2013, 20:40
43
I thought the Syrian "army" already finished the battle last Sunday, and liberated Aleppo a year ago, and Damascus two years ago. This is a war of attrition and hizbollah miscalculated and is paying the price with Lebanese young men. Hizbala can not do what bashar failed to do with scuds, migs, tnt bombs, chemical weapons. Hizbala calculated a quick victory before political negotiations, the worse possible scenario (the more realistic and currently unfolding) is a war of attrition, no politics, and more casualties in the Syrian quagmire. Not to mention the strong possibility of moving the war home.
24 May 2013, 21:07
32
yepeeeee ! FT knows what is going on in qousayr!!!! seems he is a baath agent in lebanon here only to speak in the name of his pimps... like a brave little FPM prostitute he is :)
24 May 2013, 20:48
43
Yes, I agree. I think killing each other is and must be a good thing since the people in this region have been doing so for hundreds of year. Allah yakoon maakon and please kill in the name of your Allah.
24 May 2013, 21:19
31
Que dieu Inspire les rebels syriens, les seuls et uniques résistants face à l'invasion perse et l'ignoble leader sanguinaire Bachar.
24 May 2013, 21:24
31
bachar n est pas sanguinaire! bachar est un democrate.... il preserve les libertes des citoyens et tous les syriens l adore! mais les mechants libanais veulent detruire sa belle democratie.... tous les syriens peuvent s exprimer comme ils veulent! comme en iran la plus belle societe qui soit pour les M8! l europe et les USA avec ses dictatures veulent imposer leur lois en syrie la democratique! ah! ecoute aoun et nasrallah! ils ont tout compris... tout va bien en syrie et bachar controle tout! le hezb est la bas en pelrinage c est tout....
24 May 2013, 22:07
33
LOL peace, quel sarcasme incisif. J'adore! N'ecoute pas le porte-parole du parti extrémiste qui prends le nom de Dieu en otage... En plus de tous les libanais qui osent se lever pour dire NIET!
24 May 2013, 22:11
33
oui et tes employeurs sont sous les ordres d un pays qui a assassiné des libanias, détruits des villages, kidnappés des libanais, torturés des libanais, instauré la corruption...
les saoudiens ont ils fait de meme? LOL prouvent nous que les syriens ont été meilleurs que les saoudiens au liban et alors peut etre meriteras tu du respect... pour l instant tu ne merites que crachats et mepris... pauvre chose....
tu ne peux t empecher de dire comment sont les saoudiens chez eux en oubliant comment sont les syriens des assads chez nous! deux choses differentes mais bien sur tellement facile pour un petit FPM...
dis nous qd les saoudiens ont imposes leur pouvoir despotique et sanguinaire au liban comme l ont fait tes maitres syriens?
24 May 2013, 22:53
22
" tu me sors une comparaison entre le controle syrien et le controle seoudien?"
oui petit imbecile... car tu dis que la syrie est un havre de paix et de democratie mais qu'est ce qu'on s 'en fout! comme les saoudiens et leur regime on s en moque...
alors pourquoi fais tu la comparaison, petit idiot? juste pour prouver que la syrie est meilleure?
mais quand on a une cervelle on voit ce que ce pays apporte au sien et c est tout... et moi je te prouve ce que ta democratie a apporte au liban.... mais apparemment tu souffres du syndrome de stockholm et reve que ce regime revienne gouverner ici....
24 May 2013, 23:04
13
M'enfin, je ne vous demande pas de vous aimer. Mais au moins, ne vous insultez pas.... Quand je vois ça je me dis qu'il n'y a plus d'espoir pour le Liban. et puis, le peuple syrrien n'est pas notre ennemi, c'est le despotisme qui l'est. FT, il faudra m'expliquer en quoi le fric Saoudien est plus dévastateur qui les obus syriens qui ont ôté des dizaines de milliers de vies ici. Le pognon arabe a laisé des gens, certes, mais n'a pas tué en masse. Et secundo, notre problème est avec les armes du Hezbollah, pas avec les chiites. Que chacun fasse ce qu'il veut tant qu'il ne nuit pas à autrui.... Et là justement, le Hezb est plus que nocif, il se comporte avec mépris envers tous les libanais... Là, ça ne passe pas. Et comme je l'ai déjà dit ailleurs, je m'en fou que le président, premier ministre ou que toutnle cabinet soit musulman, chrétien, juif ou bouddhiste pourvu que le gouvernement soit travailleur, honnête et compétent.
24 May 2013, 23:10
23
mais benzona insulter un FPM est se mettre a leur niveau... ils ne connaissent que ce langage. il n y a qu entendre les discours de leur chef qui insulte la presse et ses ennemis politiques. et FT ne merite aucun respect ce n est qu un petit pretentieux qui essaie de jouer au plus fort mais qui ne realise meme pas combien il se ridiculise ici....
24 May 2013, 23:17
21
waw! so beautiful as always... if we listen to FPMers only sinioura and hariri stole lebanon.... they forget ALL about the present M8 ers who built fortunes under the syrian era... ther e was only hariri and sinioura? no ministers with budgets? no corruption on their part? LOL then WHY didn t aoun and his present government sue them? why didn t aoun who claim to have a list of names still isn t presenting it to justice? oh! he will have to accuse some of his friends and family?
seems they are really idiots or really brainwashed. in either case they need therapy rather than discussing with....
24 May 2013, 23:41
20
FT insulte moi tant que tu veux , je sais que cela fait du bien a ton ego et que tu te crois un homme ainsi... venant d un aouniste idiot comme toi cela m est completement indifferent.... cela est le moyen d expression de gens comme toi comme dans les milieux pauvres et non eduques cela fait parti du langage...
mais comme tu n arrives pas a avoir raison alors c est le seul moyen que tu as pour t en sortir... je comprends c est l arme du faible....
24 May 2013, 23:44
20
"money changes ideals too. LF, jumbi, independent lackey M14 christians flipflopped more than i care to remember, due to that money. "
but of course it did not change aoun who flipflopped when he arrived in lebanon... to ally with his worse enemies...
poor FT... drowning in his contradictions....
24 May 2013, 21:54
32
"en realité la majorité syrienne, toutes sectes comprises est avec lui et non avec les alliés de M14, l"
you show perfectly your lack of knowledge of the syrian society... but normal with stupid FPMers who would like to believe so...
lots syrians are with bashar because of the fear system he has installed in syria and his system of spying on your neighbor.... so yes, they are wise and prefer to pretend to be with him rather than disappear in his jails...
stupid FT as usual....
24 May 2013, 22:14
22
bien sur FT bien sur.... je te laisse dans tes reves d une syrie democratique.... je te laisse dans tes illusions que les syriens aiment tous bashar... c est beau le reve des FPM... si beau qu ils en deviennent ridicules....
il semble que tu n es jamais alle en syrie ni vecu la vie labas...
24 May 2013, 23:07
23
La Mongolie est un pays peuplé de braves gens. Ils ont un jour conquis l'Asie et l'Europe sans oublier le moyen orient.
24 May 2013, 23:50
20
mongolien est de loin mieux que lobotomise comme FT au moins j ai un cerveau entier pas une moitie comme ce microbe.....
24 May 2013, 21:36
41
Lets be honest guys, Allah delivers these weapons to the extremists by hand. They have no need for trade routes.
24 May 2013, 21:36
30
"NNA Agency correspondent reported Friday that tenants of Halwas region on border with Syria confirmed olive orchards and wheat fields were in flames. "
oh! are hezbis going to respond to this other violation of the lebanese soil by a foreign army? LOL....................what about FPMers? olive trees were FSA? LOL! wheat fields maybe were salafis? LOL!
24 May 2013, 22:18
33
oh! the army s job now? lol! so with israel it is not the army s job to respond but hezbis one but here it is the army s one!
we keep telling you that it is the army job to respond to any foreign agression but you always say they are too weak so that is why hezbis are here!!! but now no?
waw!!!! more double standard i have never seen!
thnx FT... once again you prove your stupidity....
24 May 2013, 22:58
22
coz syria is a foreign country that is attacking lebanese sovereignty but seems they have the right and lebanon is their home... you claim to want good ties? LOL! they attack you and you excuse them? waw! truly a coward sissy you are....
a real patriot defends his country against ALL attacks... not like sissy FPMers who have double standards on that....
no wonder coming from a stupid FPMer that thanked this regime....
24 May 2013, 21:49
21
oh! cannot find a better response ? i thought you were smarter! but this answer proves your lack of creativity... normal with only one neurone...
geagea maybe lacks this too! but i have no master... don t think because you dream of what is between aouns legs that all are like you... i prefer geagea s wife by far, i am not a fag like you poor thing...
24 May 2013, 22:22
32
lol! but M8 kept repeating assad had everything under control... that assad is strong... so you are admitting that he is not and thus need helps of hezbis!
but you also said that hezbis were not there to back assad but to defend only lebanese villages!
oh! poor FT... so many contradictions only prove how lost and desperate you are.... let us pity you.
24 May 2013, 23:21
30
oh! how pratcial... what a coward move once again when you know you are wrong....
25 May 2013, 02:39
20
FT - noone denies that there is arm smuggling back and forth and by many factions on all side. The hizb was also involved in training and advising regime militias and in patrolling border for regime. What is happening today is a totally different scale. The hizb is engaged in intense combat in syria in support of a criminal regime. What would happen to Lebanon if KSA decides to fund a mostly-Sunni army to oppose the Hizb? This is a game beyond all of us and the Hizb decided for all of us. This is not acceptable anymore.
25 May 2013, 04:46
20
FT - The Hizb is supporting a monstrous regime that killed tens of thousands of people. We know the brutality of this regime in Lebanon too well. From the get-go, their strategy was to fan sectarian hatred because that is the way for survival. The opposition proposed a rational moderate plan for transition toward democracy. All what I read here is mocking and support for the monster of Damascus from m8 supporters on this post. The extreme and criminal actions by this regime and lack of meaningful support is pushing more and more Syrian toward radical organization - because they have no choice. What you doing is propagandizing for an alliance of minorities. Israel must be happy and proud.
25 May 2013, 03:20
12
"Peace" - just shut up you poof.
No one cares about your stupid opinion
25 May 2013, 09:18
00
Flamethrower has obviously nothing else to do in life but sit and write comments on Naharnet. He - or she, since FT is a neutral, gender unspecific moniker - finds enough time to monitor and comment on every single news item that matters to him/her. Not only that, he/she manages to find enough time to answer all of those who bother to address him/her. Pretty amazing and boundless energy and so much time. Does he/she ever sleep? Go to work? Find time to eat? Clean the apartment? Shave (beard or armpits, depending on gender)?
For those who haven't figured it out yet, FT is a collection of professionals paid for by M8 to monitor and comment. They are doing their jobs for pay. The more you pay attention to them, the more importance you give them. Do everyone a service by ignoring their comments totally and absolutely. Let them rave and rant, spit vitriol and try to sell the world unconvincing propaganda.
