| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria counters rebel gains in Deir Al Zor |
| 2013-08-21 |
| [OMANTRIBUNE] Syrian forces attacked rebel positions in the eastern city of Deir Al Zor on Tuesday, days after a rebel advance threatened to bring the whole city under the control of rebel forces, reports said. The provincial capital on the banks of the Euphrates, 430 km northeast of Damascus, anchors a vast, arid oil-producing region bordering Iraq. Half of it fell to rebels a year ago but Assad›s forces have held out in several districts in the west of the city and in the airport to the east. A rebel coalition led by a Qatari-backed force and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front captured the western Al Hawiqa district last week, seizing army and security compounds as well as Assad›s ruling Baath Party headquarters. The army hit rebel forces in Hawiqa district on Tuesday with tanks and multiple rocket launchers, and also battled them in territory separating Hawiqa from the district of Joura, sources said. An opposition source said rebel strength had been boosted by the arrival of 20 anti-aircraft missiles that came through Turkey for the Ahfad Al Rasul Brigade, a Qatari-backed unit of the rebel Supreme Military Council, which played a major role in the capture of Hawiqa. "They probably used 2-3 missiles in Hawiqa and have the rest," he said. Separately, a leading diplomat from the US State Department and the US ambassador to Syria will meet with a Russia delegation in The Hague next week to discuss plans for a peace conference to end the civil war in Syria, a spokeswoman for the State Department said late on Monday. The United Nations said that UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will not take part in crunch talks next week between Russian and US officials on Syria peace conference. In Riydah, the Gulf Cooperation Council has criticised Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for threatening to send more fighters to neighbouring Syria. |
| Posted by:Fred |