Beirut: Hezbollah fighters captured a Syrian village near the border with Lebanon on Tuesday after intense fighting with Syrian rebels, the group’s television station said, while an activist said battles are concentrating near a strategic Syrian hill.
Tuesday’s fighting in Syria’s Qalamoun region came amid reports in Lebanon that Hezbollah and the Syrian army are expected to launch an offensive against members of the Al Nusra Front and Daesh in Qalamoun.
Rami Abdul Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Hezbollah fighters entered Hasina after Al Nusra Front members withdrew. Abdul Rahman said the fighting is concentrating near the rebel-held Moussa Hill, a strategic mountain overlooking wide areas of Qalamoun. Hezbollah’s Al Manar television station said members of the group captured the village of Hasina on the Syrian side of the border. The station said fighting in the border areas near the Lebanese villages of Brital and Tufeil killed 12 rebel fighters and destroyed several of their vehicles.
