Syrian Forces Seize Control Of Strategic Town Of Qusair

SYRIAN FORCES SEIZE CONTROL OF STRATEGIC TOWN OF QUSAIR

June 5, 2013 – 16:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Syrian forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies
seized control of the border town of Qusair on Wednesday, June 5
dealing a strategic defeat to rebel fighters battling for two years
to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters said.

Outgunned rebels said they had retreated from Qusair, which lies
on a vital cross-border supply route with Lebanon, after two weeks
of fierce battles that marked the Shi’ite Hezbollah group’s deepest
involvement yet in Syria’s civil war.

A Hezbollah fighter told Reuters the town had fallen in a rapid
overnight offensive, allowing tanks and troops to roll into the
rubble-strewn streets after dawn, with many buildings in the city
center reduced to mounds of twisted concrete.

Bolstered by his Iranian and Russian backers, Assad’s forces have
launched a series of counter-offensives in recent weeks against mainly
Sunni Muslim rebels battling to overthrow him and end his minority
Alawite family’s four-decade grip on power.

A member of a pro-Assad Syrian militia said the military focus may
now move to the northern province of Aleppo, which has been largely
in rebel hands for the last year.