Syrian Regime Forces Prepare to Launch Offensives in Homs, Aleppo
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian regime forces sought Friday to follow up on their victory in the key town of Qusayr near the Lebanon border by sending reinforcements to battle rebels in Homs and the northern province of Aleppo.
Government forces were also trying to mop up final pockets of rebel resistance north of Qusayr, the town which it retook Wednesday bolstered by Hizbullah fighters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said President Bashar al-Assad's forces were also sending reinforcements to Aleppo province, where large swathes of territory have been in rebel hands for months.
"Clashes broke out at dawn between the army and rebels on the outskirts of Dabaa village" north of Qusayr, said the Britain-based group, adding Hizbullah forces were involved.
Official Syrian media had earlier reported that Dabaa fell on Thursday when there was, in fact, still a large rebel presence there.
A second rebel bastion north of Qusayr, Eastern Bweida where rebels and many wounded civilians fled after the fall of Qusayr, was still being bombarded by the regime.
"The army is seeking to impose its complete control of Qusayr and the surrounding area," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.
"It is leaving no way out for the rebels, and also not for the wounded or for civilians. It wants to annihilate the rebels or take them prisoner."
The Observatory said government forces were also massing "in their thousands" in Aleppo province, aiming primarily to take territory along the border with Turkey.
"They want to cut rebel supply lines from Turkey."
The army's preparations for a new offensive came a day after a brief rebel seizure of the Quneitra crossing on the armistice line separating Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan prompted Austria to announce to it was withdrawing from the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force.
The Observatory said “fierce fighting” continued on Friday in Quneitra, “including bombardment by regime forces."
07 June 2013, 16:45
53
For every Syrian Regime supporter you forget/ignore that the first year of the revolution the protesters where unarmed and they were being hunt down like dogs by the Syrian regime...how can you lie to yourselves and believe your own lies. Pathetic!
07 June 2013, 17:38
24
Habibi - I know many of these sectarians who cheered the invasion of Iraq by US troops, the hunting down of Baath party members and the installation of a Shia-dominated government. Now these same people cheer assad and nasrallah as they butcher the syrian people because they revolted for freedom. There are exceptions but the masses are brainwashed beyond belief.
07 June 2013, 16:51
00
As the local NostraDamsels can tell you better than anyone else, Homs and Aleppo shall be the burying ground for... well... umm... duh... al-Nusra and all of Al Nostras' hopes? One thing that will definitely not be laid to rest ever it is Al Nostras' incessant predicting. NostraGeha, NostraBenzona, NostraHarrier, NostraPeace, NostraMustafaOGhalayini... the end of the "ASSad" regime has never been... well... umm... duh... farther from collapsing? Keep them predictions flooding.
07 June 2013, 17:09
32
The content of the banner looks like composed by someone with Down's syndrome.
07 June 2013, 17:16
44
May God help the civilians that will get slaughtered by the Lebanese Chabiha known as hezb ebola, may god protect the innocent civilians against the chemical weapons Saddam Hafezovitch Assad keeps firing.
Finally, الله يلعن بشار
07 June 2013, 17:17
33
I hope foreign intelligence services are doing their job and showing the pics to the decision makers.
07 June 2013, 17:25
43
i guess hezb will come back to lebanon as homs and aleppo are not precisely "border towns" ! LOL!!!
oups! am i wrong?
07 June 2013, 17:25
22
i guess hezb will come back to lebanon as homs and aleppo are not precisely "border towns" ! LOL!!!
oups! am i wrong?
07 June 2013, 17:25
21
i guess hezb will come back to lebanon as homs and aleppo are not precisely "border towns" ! LOL!!!
oups! am i wrong?
07 June 2013, 17:29
22
sorry for the multiple posts... lebanese internet! some say it has become better but here is the proof that it is still lousy! LOL!
07 June 2013, 18:45
34
The people behind the banner probably have never heard of Obama before.
07 June 2013, 22:26
00
What a shame to kill so much innocent syrian people Bachar Al-Assad!
08 June 2013, 06:14
11
Clearly terrorists have infiltrated the FSA and now the Syrian government admitted supporting terrorists!
"Syrian president's adviser Buthaina Shaaban to al-Mayadeen: We voice support for imprisoned (ex-)minister Michel Samaha."
come on Lebanese, which terrorist do YOU support?!?
08 June 2013, 07:42
12
Get these " Free Savage Animals" so called rebels , (ie FSA /Al Nusra) The Human Organ Eaters , Canibals , out to sea with their Idol UBL .... The son of the Witches are a liability not only to our region but to the safety of world society. These animals don't deserve a statistic or a grave even marked with a number . They are unrecycable even worse than Uranium .
