Activists: Syria Troops, Hizbullah Advancing on Qusayr
Fierce clashes between rebels and fighters loyal to President Bashar Assad's regime raged on Thursday around insurgent-held Qusayr in central Syria, a monitoring group said.
An army officer told AFP the military seized control of Shumariyeh village near the town of Qusayr.
"The Syrian army seized back control of Shumariyeh in the Qusayr countryside, and troops are currently on their way to the village of Ghassaniyeh" which has been under rebel control for more than a year, the officer said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report.
"Backed by pro-regime militia and Hizbullah fighters, the army is advancing in the Qusayr area," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"They have superior firepower and their campaign to take back Qusayr is fierce," he added.
Backed by fighters loyal to Hizbullah, the Damascus regime launched an intensified bid last month to retake Qusayr.
The town fell out of regime control more than a year ago, but has faced daily shelling and frequent aerial bombardment.
It is strategically located near the Lebanese border and just south of Syria's third city, Homs, which lies on the road linking Damascus to the coast.
Lebanon has suffered a spillover of Syria's raging conflict, with frequent cross-border shelling targeting the north and the east of the country.
On Thursday, three shells hit Hermel in eastern Lebanon, and two others hit Masharia al-Qaa nearby, a security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Source: Agence France Presse
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