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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria army 'storms' rebel town Qusair |
| 2013-05-19 |
| Syrian government forces have surrounded the rebel stronghold of Qusair and are storming it from several directions, says Syrian state TV. Fighting has gone on around the town, near the Lebanese border, for weeks. Opposition groups say militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement are fighting alongside government forces. Correspondents say Qusair has strategic value for both sides. If the government retakes it, it would ensure access from the capital to the coast. Russia, a key ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, has a small naval maintenance facility at the Syrian deep-water port of Tartus. For the rebels, control of Qusair means they can come and go from neighbouring Lebanon, says the BBC's Jim Muir, in Beirut. There are also reports that hundreds of Lebanese Sunni militants have joined the fight on the rebels' side, our correspondent says. Syrian opposition activists said government air strikes and heavy shelling on Sunday had killed at least 16 people in Qusair so far. |
| Posted by:tipper |