Syrian Observatory: Army Hunts Down Rebels North of Qusayr

Syrian regime forces Friday sought to mop up the final pockets of rebel resistance north of Qusayr, after retaking the key town that was an insurgent bastion for a year, a watchdog said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said President Bashar Assad's forces were also sending reinforcements to the northern province of Aleppo, where large swathes of territory have been in rebel hands for months.

"Clashes broke out at dawn between the army and rebels on the outskirts of Dabaa village" north of Qusayr near the border with Lebanon, said the Britain-based group which relies on activists and medics on the ground for its information.

Official Syrian media had reported that Dabaa fell on Thursday.

Al-Manar, the television channel of Hizbullah which was instrumental in helping Assad's forces to seize Qusayr, quoted a general as saying his troops had launched a surprise attack.

This was aimed at "the liberation of Dabaa" from rebels, he said.

A second rebel bastion north of Qusayr, Eastern Bweida where hundreds of wounded and civilians fled after the fall of Qusayr, was still being bombarded by the regime.

"Four rebels were killed on Thursday evening while trying to evacuate wounded," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

At least 15 rebels were killed on Thursday in bombardments of Dabaa and Eastern Bweida, the group said.

Analysts say regime forces will now turn their attention on the central city of Homs, where some areas are still rebel in rebel hands.

The Observatory said government forces were also massing in Aleppo province in the north, aiming primarily to take insurgent-held territory along the border with Turkey.