Four Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria's Qusayr: source
At least four members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr
BEIRUT: At least four members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr, where the regime launched an assault Sunday, a source close to the group told AFP.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said four fighters from Lebanon's Bekaa region were killed in the town in Syria's central province of Homs.
The men were reportedly killed overnight, shortly before Syrian forces began a long-expected assault on the town of Qusayr, a key stronghold of the rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
State television and a military source speaking to AFP said troops had entered the centre of the town, seizing its main square and municipality building.
Shiite Hezbollah is a close ally of the Damascus regime, and its fighters have been battling alongside the army in the Qusayr area for weeks, according to activists.
A handful of Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria have been brought back for burial in Lebanon, with senior officials from the group occasionally paying condolences in person to the families of those killed.
The group's leader Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged that members of his movement are fighting alongside Syrian troops against the rebels seeking Assad's ouster.
The uprising, which began in March 2011, has left more then 94,000 people dead according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog.
