Syria's Qusayr Pounded as Battle Enters Third Week
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian warplanes pounded the embattled town of Qusayr on Monday as a regime offensive backed by fighters from Hizbullah to retake the town from rebels entered its third week.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a fierce overnight onslaught both on the strategic town near the border with Lebanon and slightly farther north in Dabaa.
Dabaa, the site of a disused military airbase that had been seized by rebels battling President Bashar Assad's regime, is still partly under insurgent control.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a wide network of activists, medics and others on the ground for its information, said there were numerous dead on both sides, but gave no breakdown.
An estimated 94,000 people have been killed in Syria since a peaceful protest movement that began in March 2011 quickly became an armed revolt when the regime cracked down hard on dissent.
Warplanes bombarded Qusayr for the second consecutive day, the Observatory said on Monday.
The watchdog also reported air strikes on the Al-Hajar al-Aswad district of southern Damascus itself, where pillars of thick dark smoke barreled into the sky.
It said clashes between soldiers and rebels were ongoing in the Abasiyeen area outside the capital's Jubar neighborhood.
Again, the rights group was unable to give a casualty figure.
Monday's fighting in Syria came a day after a car bombing in Damascus killed at least nine members of the security forces and the regime said it would allow the Red Cross into Qusayr only when the fighting there stopped.
At the United Nations, diplomats said Russia blocked a draft Security Council declaration expressing "grave concern" about the situation in Qusayr.
They said Moscow was demanding "wider political discussion" on the issue.
Russia is a key ally of the Syrian regime, which is also backed by Shiite Iran.
On Saturday, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and international aid groups expressed concern about civilians trapped in Qusayr, and for between 1,000-1,500 injured residents still in the town of 25,000 people.
But on Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem expressed "surprise" at worries about the situation in Qusayr "given that no one expressed this concern when terrorists took control of the city and the surrounding area".
France, meanwhile, said that the proposed "Geneva 2" peace conference on ending the bloodshed in Syria could be delayed until next month.
The international community has pinned its hopes for resolving the conflict peacefully on the U.S.-Russian initiative that had been mooted for June in Geneva.
"'Geneva 2' is in my opinion a last-chance conference. I hope it will take place, I think it could take place in July," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
03 June 2013, 15:04
00
How come he is using the planes to bomb? why was it banned in Lybia, Egypt and every place else except Syria? At least they should have set a 'no fly zone' to reduce daily casualties!
03 June 2013, 17:31
47
totally right the1phoenix
so far with all their weapons they have been unable to finish this small area!
ad wait for the actual land assault to see how many hizbis will return in body bags!
useless fighting, useless deaths. and all that to do the dirty job of iran.
03 June 2013, 19:38
44
Or throw rice on their tanks in the 80's when they'freed' them from the PLO lol or welcome Americans who freed them from Saddam and gave them Maliki the new muqawem, or kill wesam Hassan who caught the Israeli spy rings and free fayez karma after less than two years, or Iran taking weapons from Israel to fight Iraq (Iran gate), go roar somewhere else
03 June 2013, 21:55
32
Australia has warm and close relations with Israel, which are supported strongly by Australia’s active Jewish community. i guess that s why you support bashar so israel does not have to worry for its golan borders! LOL!!!!
i guess you serve them tea with the biscuits! LOL
03 June 2013, 17:59
713
The_roar is a typical m8 drone. Why would the lebanese army be there? This is syrian territory. Even then, the al-qusayr have hardly any lebanese citizen. In addition, it is an overwhelmingly sunni town. The hizb is on a war of aggression.
03 June 2013, 18:14
511
in front of so much civilian death and suffering you choose to display your filthy sectarianism!
this shows us all what a low life you are, with total disregard to human suffering.
you display a disastrous shia extremism within your comments rarely seen from anybody else, and you really should be banned from this site.
none of m8 guys has shown such disturbing pathological sickness so far, except for a rare few (not including FT and Mowaten who have strong views and some sectarian talk sometimes), and I believe that you should be treated.
03 June 2013, 18:57
43
so if the Roar think its ok for Hizbollah to fight on the wrong side of the border to keep it safe, I guess he understands IDFs view on this 1978-2000 also.
04 June 2013, 02:44
22
Lol the roar, actually they beat each other up every day. Seculars vs orthodox. European origin vs non-european origin etc. Their government may seem like it is sticking together but that is only because it is run by european seculars and they call all the shots. But yes, their shoe is worth 1000000 arabs if those arabs are anything like you ya australeh wannabee.
04 June 2013, 03:10
20
And their armed citizens do not shoot down their army helicopters, or control air and sea ports, or withhold their accused from the courts and its laws, or take over a whole city, or threaten their fellow citizens....... or or or.
03 June 2013, 19:04
57
The-roar::: are you a child? Al-qusayr has a VERY SMALL number of lebanese. The overwhelming majority are sunni (and non-lebanese) Either you do not know what you are talking about or you are a liar. As for the Hizb, it is enaling a monstrous regime and it is party to the killing of every man, woman and child in syria.
03 June 2013, 19:39
14
Which goes to prove what many claim, that Israel and Hizbollah have common interests or are even allies if you like. Of all the conspiracy-theories in the Middle East I find this one one of the more plausable ones.
03 June 2013, 19:40
43
I thought qusair fell 20 days ago lol, once the surprise attack failed , and the subsequent attacks failed we have entered the attrition phase, this is the worse scenario for HA, and if the M8 on here think that HA anticipated all this I would advise them to have their heads examined
04 June 2013, 03:13
21
didn't Hitler occupy all of Europe and much of the USSR, but eventually the law of numbers did him in?
03 June 2013, 19:45
48
The roar - AGAIN, where are the Lebanese in Al-Qusayr? The overwhelming majority are sunni (and non-lebanese). Now the Hizb has admitted that they will support the regime anywhere in Syria. The Hizb is enabling a monstrous regime. So stop lying about what I said. You may choose to believe what I said about my former support or not. Not all of us are drones who blindly follow others.
03 June 2013, 21:22
46
the_roar:: get some education. A Ph.D. is not a Bachelor. It stands for Doctor of Philosophy. In my case from the University of British Columbia. http://www.ubc.ca/about/global.html. As for story telling, I leave this to you as you do it best. Just because you lie, it does not mean that others are liars.
04 June 2013, 02:37
30
Josh, did hafez assad follow jesus for you to ask god to bless his soul?
04 June 2013, 05:41
11
the_whimper ::: As my 2 years old kid says "tonto." You are truly a nutcase.
04 June 2013, 06:54
00
Before the Geneve2, why macCain stay there to call for fight orchestrating with an advice of the extention of the Lebanese Election even 17 months. This advice must target to creat longer political vacuum, while Lebanese demande the soution and the peace, I suppose. lebanese have suffered from daily Israeli air attack, Syria conflict spill over and suspcted involvement to smuggle weapons to the both of opposition and the Assad regime. Most of ordinary lebanese must hope the peaceful solution. Such advised political vacuum tamper the Lebanon Government from the discuss at the GA or Security Council. Their request seem to be ignored at expense of MacCain flag ?! Turkish young's protest sound very important !
04 June 2013, 09:34
22
I think HA is fighting for all sects now whom are becoming minorities the christians, alawit, shiaa, druz from the sunni overwelming believe it or not...a fight for freedom n oil
