Report: 5,000 Hizbullah Fighters Joined Assad's Forces in Damascus Fighting
Some 5,000 Hizbullah members have been fighting alongside Syrian regime troops against rebels in the restive suburbs of Damascus, the Saudi al-Watan daily reported.
The newspaper quoted sources as saying that the fighters crossed the border into Syria last month.
But they said that around 300 of them were killed in the fighting in the past few days.
Battles have flared in areas around Damascus as rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad try to push into the city itself.
The rebel advances in the suburbs threaten the government's grip on its seat of power, prompting a punishing response from the military on rebel areas skirting the capital.
Media reports have said several Hizbullah commanders and fighters have been killed in Syria since the revolt that erupted with peaceful demonstrations in March 2011 turned violent.
The party, which is backed by the Syrian and Iranian regimes, has long been accused by the Syrian opposition of assisting Damascus in its crackdown on the uprising — a claim Hizbullah repeatedly has denied.
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