[THEPENINSULAQATAR] Syrian helicopter gunships killed at least six people yesterday when they dropped barrel bombs on the strategic rebel stronghold of Yabrud, close to the Lebanese border, a monitoring group said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacks followed a string of raids by regime warplanes around the town, which the army is trying to recapture. The raids came a day after loyalists backed by Hezbollah killed at least 17 Islamist fighters in the battle for Yabrud. State news agency Sana said army forces carried out a string of operations in and around Yabrud yesterday.
The offensive is aimed at securing the Damascus-Homs highway and severing a key rebel supply line to the town of Arsal in Leb's Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah says boom-mobiles used to attack it inside Leb originate in the Yabrud area and are driven to their targets via Arsal, a Sunni town where support for the Syrian uprising runs high.
A group of 13 kidnapped nuns and their three maids are believed to be held in the Yabrud region by kidnappers who took them away from the nearby town of Maalula in December. Sister Agnes, a nun from their diocese, said that contact was lost with the kidnappers, who are from the jihadist Al Nusra Front, on Wednesday.
"They are in a distressing situation and I'm alarmed because I fear the worst," she said by phone.
"They are forced to follow the rebel group that has taken them hostage, which moves them depending on the fighting. We no longer have direct contact with them."