Shiite militant group aids Assad’s forces in capturing strategic Sunni-held border town

BAALBEK, Lebanon

Syrian troops and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies captured a strategic border town Wednesday after a grueling three-week battle, dealing a severe blow to rebels and opening the door for President Bashar Assad’s regime to seize back the country’s central heartland.

The regime triumph in Qusair, which Assad’s forces had bombarded for months without success, demonstrates the potentially game-changing role of Hezbollah in Syria’s civil war. The gain could also embolden Assad to push for all-out military victory rather than participate in peace talks being promoted by the United States and Russia.

The Shiite militant group lost dozens of fighters in the battle for Qusair, underlining its commitment in support of Assad’s regime and edging the fight in Syria further into a regional sectarian conflict pitting the Middle East’s Iranian-backed Shiite axis against Sunnis.

Most of the armed rebels in Syria are members of the country’s Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad has retained core support among the country’s minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, along with Christians and Shiite Muslims.

The overt involvement by Hezbollah, which is heavily invested in the survival of the Damascus regime, has raised tensions considerably in Lebanon, where the militants have come under harsh criticism.

The group openly celebrated Qusair’s fall on Wednesday.

The White House on Wednesday night condemned the town’s capture and said Hezbollah’s involvement threatens Lebanon’s stability.

Spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement that Assad’s regime couldn’t wrest control of the town alone and had to rely on help from Hezbollah. He said Syria’s government must allow the U.N. and others to evacuate Qusair’s wounded and provide medical treatment.

In the predominantly Shiite northeastern town of Bazzalieh, near the Lebanese city of Baalbek, Hezbollah supporters set up a checkpoint, distributing sweets to people and firing in the air in celebration. “Today, we defeated the other Israel,” declared Ali al-Bazzal, 23, waving a yellow Hezbollah flag.

In Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut, sounds of celebratory gunfire and fireworks rang out for two hours. “Qusair has fallen,” read banners hung in the streets.

Both sides had dug in for an all-out battle for Qusair, a key crossroads town of supply lines between Damascus and western and northern Syria that had been under rebel control since early last year.

Over the past two months, the Syrian army has moved steadily against rebels in key battleground areas, making advances near the border with Lebanon and considerably lowering the threat to Damascus, the seat of Assad’s government.

Qusair’s fall could boost the momentum for Syrian troops in rolling back rebel gains in other parts of central Homs province, as well as in northern Syria, where the sides have been locked in a stalemate for months. Pro-regime media outlets have said government forces are preparing to move to recapture the contested northern city of Aleppo next.

The blow to the rebel movement — compounded by deepening divisions in opposition ranks — was likely to further discourage it from entering peace negotiations with the regime, which the United States and Russia have been trying to put together in Geneva.


