Last Update: Monday, 20 May 2013 KSA 12:36 - GMT 09:36
At least 40 Hezbollah fighters killed in Qusayr as troops fight rebels
Monday, 20 May 2013
*
Al Arabiya -
At least 40 Hezbollah fighters have been reportedly killed in the
Syrian town of Qusayr late on Sunday, sources told Al Arabiya, following
clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces who attempted to enter
the town earlier in the day.
Sources also told Al Arabiya that
tens of Hezbollah members were wounded during the fight and had been
taken to hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon for treatment.
The assault
on Qusayr appeared to be part of a campaign by President Bashar
al-Assad's forces to consolidate their grip on Damascus and secure links
between the capital and the government strongholds on the coast via the
contested central city of Homs.
State news agency SANA said
the army had "restored security and stability to most Qusayr
neighborhoods" and was "chasing the remnants of the terrorists in the
northern district".
Meanwhile, sources said that Hezbollah
official Fady al-Jazzar was reportedly among those killed. Al-Jazzar is
considered to be a high ranking Hezbollah officer and was imprisoned in
Israel until he returned to Lebanon in a prisoner-exchange deal.
News on his death came after contact was lost with the group that was under his
command, Al Arabiya said.
Hezbollah denies taking part in Syria’s two-year conflict – which has killed at
least 80,000 people, according to the U.N. However, the group – an ally
of the Syrian regime – has held regular funerals of Hezbollah fighters,
who – it said – were killed serving their “jihadi duties.”
Earlier in the day, Syrian State TV reported that Syrian troops had entered the
center of the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, seizing the town’s main
square and its municipality building.
However, Hadi Abdullah, a
Syrian activist speaking from Qusayr, denied to Al Arabiya that the town had
fallen into the hands of regime forces. The activist added that
with support from Hezbollah militias, the Syrian regime is heavily
shelling Qusayr, leveling civilian homes.
Syrian activists told
Al Arabiya on Sunday that regime airstrikes and heavy shelling of the
strategic town, near the Lebanese border killed at least 58 people and
left hundreds wounded, including opposition fighters.
Qusayr is home to about 20,000 residents and has been besieged for weeks by
government troops.
Earlier in May, spokesperson of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) Louay Almokdad
told Al Arabiya that Hezbollah was using artillery shells containing
fatal Mustard Gas in the area.
The town is strategically important because it links Damascus with the coast,
where regime loyalists are concentrated.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground,
also reported intense bombardment of Qusayr.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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