Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Sun 06/08/2025 View Sat 06/07/2025 View Fri 06/06/2025 View Thu 06/05/2025 View Wed 06/04/2025 View Tue 06/03/2025 View Mon 06/02/2025
2013-05-26 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Regime Unleashes Artillery Barrage on Qusayr Backed by Hizbullah, Takes Key Town
[AnNahar] Syrian forces entered a key objective north of the besieged central town of Qusayr on Saturday, the army said, battling rebels inside the former military airport of Dabaa.

"The Syrian army infiltrated Dabaa airport from the northwest, and now fighting is taking place inside the airport after they broke the rebel defense lines," an army source said.

Activists said elite troops from the army and its ally Hizbullah led the attack.

The former military airport lies just outside Qusayr on the only road north of the town.

Earlier on Saturday, forces loyal to Assad unleashed their heaviest artillery and rocket barrage yet in a week-long battle to dislodge rebels from a strategic western town, activists said.

Pro-Assad troops, including fighters from Hizbullah, have been trying to push rebels out of Qusayr. They have gained ground, but rebels have clung to some positions.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Agence La Belle La Belle La Belle France Presse "the fighting and shelling, which took place on Saturday on the main roads inside and outside of Qusayr, are the most intense since the beginning of the offensive."

He said Qusayr, rebel areas north of the town like Hamdiyeh, Dabaa and Arjuneh have been subjected to heavy bombardment by regime forces using surface-to-surface missiles.

Qusayr is a key prize for the rebels, a conduit through which weapons and fighters can be channeled from Leb, only about 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

It is also important for Assad's forces because of its strategic location between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, the Alawite heartland of the embattled president's regime.

Rahman said "the intensification of the fighting can be explained by Hizbullah's desire to score points before the speech their leader Hasan Nasrallah is due to deliver this evening," marking the 13th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Leb.

On Friday, anti-regime demonstrators across Syria denounced the Hizbullah chief, waving placards reading "Nasrallah, impostor of the resistance," and "Homs is not Jerusalem," a reference to the group's slogan about liberating Jerusalem.
Posted by trailing wife 2013-05-26 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ]  Top
 File under: Govt of Syria 

#1 Zionist AF pulls the string on the mouse...
Posted by Shipman 2013-05-26 17:28||   2013-05-26 17:28|| Front Page Top

17:07 Whiskey Mike
17:07 Frank G
17:05 Frank G
16:58 Matt
16:47 3dc
16:43 trailing wife
16:43 Warthog
16:26 trailing wife
16:14 Abu Uluque
16:11 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
16:06 trailing wife
16:01 Silentbrick
16:00 The Walking Unvaxed
16:00 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
15:57 Frank G
15:53 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
15:34 Procopius2k
15:24 The Walking Unvaxed
15:08 NoMoreBS
15:04 Phererong Whavique2804
15:03 BrerRabbit
15:02 NoMoreBS
14:54 Frank G
14:52 Difar Dave









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com