DAMASCUS: Syrian troops and Hezbollah allies yesterday pressed their assault on the strategic town of Qusayr, as concern grew for residents and hundreds of rebels reportedly broke through army lines to join the battle.
US Secretary of State John Kerry also raised questions about Russia’s commitment to peace in Syria, warning that delivering S-300 air defence missiles to Damascus would be “not helpful”.
In Istanbul, the deeply divided opposition announced agreement on expanding its membership to include more representatives of fighters and activists on the ground after it was accused of being out of touch.
But despite extending its talks for five days longer than scheduled, the National Coalition put off until June electing a new leader and forming an interim rebel government.
President Bashar Al Assad, meanwhile, said he was “very confident” of victory in Syria’s conflict. Assad, whose forces are battling alongside fighters of Lebanon’s Shia movement Hezbollah to recapture Qusayr, said his regime would defeat the revolt which has raged since March 2011 at a cost of more than 94,000 lives, according to monitors.
“There is a world war being waged against Syria and the policy of (anti-Israeli) resistance... (but) we are very confident of victory,” he told Hezbollah’s Al Manar television on Thursday.
Syrian state television said troops and Hezbollah fighters had captured the Arjun district in northern Qusayr on Thursday, leaving rebels in the town little chance to escape.
The Syrian opposition said yesterday that hundreds of rebel reinforcements, most close to the Muslim Brotherhood, have reached Qusayr to try to repel the army’s assault.
“Around 1,000 fighters from across Syria” have penetrated the rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border, the National Coalition’s interim leader George Sabra told reporters in Istanbul.
“Hundreds” of rebels have broken through army lines near the village of Shamsinn, northeast of Qusayr, after losing 11 fighters, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Coalition has appealed for the rescue of 1,000 civilians wounded in Qusayr, which Assad’s forces have been trying to seize back in an all-out offensive since May 19.
Thousands of people who have fled the besieged town are in dire need of aid, the UN’s refugee agency said, as its tally for Syrians who have escaped their war-torn nation topped 1.6 million.
UNHCR spokesman Dan McNorton told reporters that at least 3,500 people — mostly women and children — had made it to nearby Hasiya.
The agency was able “to witness the dire humanitarian situation of these displaced families,” said McNorton. In his interview, Assad appeared to imply that Russia had already started to deliver sophisticated S-300 missiles under contract with Syria.
But Russia’s Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers said Moscow may not deliver the missile systems to Damascus this year and rejected claims they had already arrived.
AFP
