[NY Times] Fighting raged on Monday in the strategic Syrian city of Qusayr, as the government unleashed new The toll of dead and maimed also continued to rise for the Lebanese bully boy group Hezbollah, which is fighting its biggest battle yet on the side of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
. Both sides have depicted the fighting in Qusayr as a turning point in the war that is raising regional tensions as Hezbollah plunges more deeply into the conflict.
Funerals for Hezbollah fighters were being planned in the group's strongholds in the Bekaa Valley and southern Leb, relatives of the dead said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition watchdog group, reported that at least 23 Hezbollah guerrillas had died in the fighting. If confirmed, that would be by far the largest toll for Hezbollah in a single Syrian battle.
Echoes of the battle rippled across neighboring Leb, which is deeply divided between supporters and opponents of Mr. Assad. In the northern city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, from which many Sunni Mohammedan bully boyz have joined the Syrian rebels, residents held a candlelight vigil late Sunday in support of Qusayr's rebels. In Shiite areas, residents worried about relatives fighting in Syria and prayed for victory in a battle Hezbollah has framed as a proxy fight against its main foe, Israel, and an intervention to defend Shiites in Syria, of both Lebanese and Syrian descent, and other minorities they say are threatened by the uprising led by Syria's Sunni majority.
The Joint Command of the Free Syrian Army, the loose-knit United States-backed rebel umbrella group, issued a rallying cry that supporters of Hezbollah were bound to see as inflammatory, calling the group "impure," in a phrase that could resonate as a sectarian slur against Shiites.
It congratulated rebels holding out in Qusayr, calling them "brave heroes whose victories will be highlighted by history in letters made of light as they have defended their land and their honor from the impurity of the criminal terrorist members of Hezbollah." It also taunted Hezbollah's leadership, saying, "We know very well how their gang is constructed and we know how to take it apart and we will take it apart. We see heads that are ripe for the picking."
In a dig at Lebanese families sending Hezbollah fighters to the battle, the Free Syrian Army said, "We can now say that every single family or neighborhood in Baalbek or Hermel has a dead family member among their sons who fought in Qusayr."
One relative of a slain Hezbollah fighter spoke in equally strong terms about the battle, saying in an interview that it was as crucial for the party as the struggle against Israel.
Rebels said they destroyed seven armored vehicles and killed dozens more government and Hezbollah fighters, according to an activist in Qusayr.
The Observatory also said that at least six rebels had been killed on Monday, including a commander, but activists say the toll could be higher because not all bodies have been recovered. The joint command of the rebel forces also said that hospitals in Baalbek and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut had accepted many Hezbollah maimed.
On Sunday, Syrian government troops backed by Hezbollah fighters pushed into parts of Qusayr, hammering the city with