In the course of two days, the Syrian army took over most of the territory surrounding the strategic town of Qusayr, cutting off the opposition’s supply lines from nearby Lebanon.
The Syrian army continued to make advances against opposition forces, this time in the strategic area of Rif Qusayr along both banks of the Assi River near the border with Lebanon.
Qusayr has played a key role in the conflict due to its proximity to the Lebanese border, where weapons, supplies, and fighters are smuggled through the rugged hills near the Lebanese town of Ersal.
For months now, the opposition has had complete control of the city of Qusayr, with an ability to reach north to Homs and south to the northern suburbs of Damascus, where government forces are waging ferocious battles with the opposition.
However, the western banks of the Assi River – home to many Lebanese villages located inside Syrian territory – remained under the control of the army with support from the local Popular Committees, which are in turn backed by Hezbollah. The opposition nevertheless had the ability to cross over to the western side of the river where it enjoyed a strong presence in some villages.
The situation began to change around ten days ago when the Syrian military took the area of Nabi Mando, which not only overlooks most of Rif Qusayr but also contains a bridge connecting the two banks of the river. They also managed to take the town of Ibil to the north, effectively cutting Qusayr off from Homs.
The battles in these areas came at a heavy cost to the opposition. Calls for assistance appeared on their social media sites, saying that Syrian army and Hezbollah forces were closing in on Qusayr.
While some local sources suggested that the army’s offensive will not end until it has expelled the opposition from Qusayr, others said that the target of the operation is limited to isolating the city and preventing the fighters in it from either moving north to Homs or south toward the suburbs of Damascus.
At the same time as the Qusayr operation, the Syrian army carried out a similar offensive to the southwest of Damascus, where again the opposition lost ground and took some heavy casualties. Here again, the military’s objective is to cut off the smuggling of weapons coming from opposition-held areas in the Golan to fighters in the capital’s suburbs.
According to close observers, these military operations are part of an overall plan to cut off the opposition’s supply lines from Lebanon in the west, Jordan in the south, and Turkey in the north, while at the same time expanding what the regime is calling a “secure zone,” starting with the areas around Damascus and Homs.
(Al-Akhbar)
Uprooted Palestinian
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