Hizbullah Sends New Fighters to Bloody Syria Battle
Dozens of people, mostly combatants, have been killed in ongoing battles for the Syrian town of Qusayr, a watchdog said Tuesday, as Hizbullah sent new elite fighters to the rebel stronghold.
"At least 31 Hizbullah fighters have been killed since Sunday, as well as 68 rebel fighters, six of whom we were unable to identify," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Another nine troops loyal to President Bashar Assad were killed in the fighting, as were three paramilitary fighters.
"It's clear Hizbullah is leading the assault," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Four civilians -- three of them women -- were also killed, he added.
Hizbullah's al-Manar broadcasted images showing hundreds of people attending funerals for five members killed "carrying out their jihadist duty".
It did not specify where they had been killed.
Abdel Rahman said most of the rebels who were killed in Qusayr, a strategic town that links Damascus to the coast and the heartland of Assad's Alawite sect, died in the shelling.
A source close to Hizbullah told Agence France Presse that the fighters had been killed by explosive devices planted by rebels who are seeking to oust Assad's regime.
The source also said Hizbullah had sent new fighters into Qusayr to fight alongside pro-Assad forces.
"Hizbullah has sent new elite troops to Qusayr. They have already taken many prisoners from among the rebels, including non-Syrians," the source said on condition of anonymity.
U.S. President Barack Obama expressed concern over Hizbullah's "active and growing role" in Syria in a phone call to President Michel Sleiman.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell condemned Hizbullah and said its actions in Syria "exacerbate and inflame regional sectarian tensions and perpetuate the regime's campaign of terror.”
Meanwhile, the Observatory's Abdel Rahman described the rebels' resistance in Qusayr as "fierce".
"The rebels are putting up a fierce resistance, refusing to abandon the civilians," he said.
"But Hizbullah and the loyalist army are staging an extremely fierce assault," he added.
The Assad regime has made taking back Qusayr a priority.
The Observatory, like the opposition, has repeatedly expressed concern for the fate of some 25,000 civilians still trapped in the town.
Pro-regime daily Al-Watan meanwhile said loyalists had taken control of all Qusayr's official buildings.
"The Syrian army has taken control of all government buildings... in Qusayr and in the nearby countryside of Homs province, and raised the Syrian flag above it," said the daily.
The army was still advancing into the city, which has been under a tight siege for more than a year.
"Dozens of terrorists have been killed or wounded in the battles, some of them Arabs or foreigners," the daily said, citing an unnamed military source.
Source: Agence France Presse
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