Syrian regime takes over crucial city of Qusayr; rebels say war's not over

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Syrian regime takes over crucial city of Qusayr; rebels say war's not over

Syrian government forces seized control Wednesday of the strategically important border city of Qusayr, which had been the site of nearly seven weeks of fighting.

State-run TV credited an offensive "that led to the annihilation of a number of terrorists," the government's term for rebels.

"Our heroic armed forces are always determined to confront any aggression that our beloved homeland may face in the future," an anchor on Syrian state television said.

The Syrian opposition acknowledged the report.

 "Yes, dear brethren, this is a battle that we lost, but the war is not over yet," said the Homs Revolution News, which is associated with the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist network.

One dissident group said Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia backed by Iran and the Syria government, was instrumental in the siege's success.

"Hezbollah fighters took control of Al-Qusayr city after the regime forces covered their night attack with heavy bombing that was carried out by the regime armed forces since last night and continued into the morning," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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The government's capture of Qusayr came on the day that U.S., Russian and U.N. officials met in Switzerland to plan an international conference on the Syrian crisis. Following Wednesday's meeting, the United Nations' special representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters that the conference wouldn't happen in June as previously expected, but could take place in July.

The loss of what had been a rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border represents a blow to rebels' efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and may portend heightened sectarian tensions.

That echoes what rebels have been predicting for weeks: that a government takeover of Qusayr could lead to a new level of sectarian warfare between Sunnis -- who dominate Syria's population -- and Shiites and Alawites. Al-Assad's family, which has ruled Syria for 42 years, belongs to the Alawite sect.

"If Qusayr falls at the hands of the regime, there is no way to stop the acts of reprisal, and that retribution will (reach) another level," rebel spokesman Col. Abdul Hamid Zakaria told the Al-Arabiya TV network last month.

"This will lead to Shiite and Alawite towns to be completely wiped out of the map."

Indeed, video appeared Wednesday on YouTube showing what the poster said were Free Syrian Army fighters launching rockets at two Shiite villages, inhabited mostly by Assad loyalists, in an overwhelmingly Sunni region in the northeastern province of Aleppo.

Last week, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris of the rebel Free Syrian Army asked the public to "excuse (the) FSA" for any retaliation.

"We are being subjected to genocide conducted by Hezbollah," he told Al Arabiya.

France has said that Hezbollah sent as many as 4,000 fighters to Syria to bolster al-Assad's forces. The Lebanese militants "produced major results," particularly in the battle for Qusayr, said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics.

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Qusayr's importance

Qusayr's location has made it a crucial battleground for regime and rebel forces.

The government's control of the city helps secure a critical link between the capital, Damascus, and Alawite strongholds such as Tartus and Latakia, said Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.

He said the rebels' loss will likely spark a rise in cross-border attacks on Shiite towns in eastern Lebanon, and possible attacks on Hezbollah forces farther inside the country.

FSA Gen. Salim Idriss has said that the Syrian rebels will hunt Hezbollah down in Lebanon and "in hell, if they have to," over the Shiite militia intervention in Syria.

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Nasrallah's deputy, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, responded by saying that his party can protect its Shiite supporters in Lebanon and they "will punish the murderers who attack Lebanon's sovereignty."

A Syrian helicopter fired five missiles into Kherbet Dawoud, near the Lebanese town of Arsal, which is largely Sunni and has served as a refuge for a number of people who fled Qusayr; no casualties were reported, the Lebanese Army Information Directorate said Wednesday.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that clashes were occurring in Tripoli between residents of rival areas of the city -- the Bab-al-Tibbaneh neighborhood, which is dominated by Sunnis, and the adjacent Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, which is dominated by Alawites.

"The Syrian conflict is no longer an internal struggle between Assad and the internal opposition," Gerges said. "It's an open-ended war by proxy -- Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, plus Russia and the United States."

Shortly after the Syrian regime seized Qusayr, Iran sent congratulations.