“Fierce clashes raged between Hezbollah supported by regime troops and National Defense Force militiamen on one side and Islamist factions, including the Al-Nusra Front, on the other in the mountainous terrain around Rankous,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Wednesday.
The report added that the clashes began after midnight on Tuesday, while a video posted on YouTube purported to show flares lighting up the night sky over the area.
The Rankous plain lies approximately 15 kilometers south of the main theatre of Qalamoun fighting in the mountains stretching from Assal al-Ward up to Ras al-Maara, where Hezbollah and armed opposition groups have been locked in fighting.
The pro-opposition El Dorar news reported Wednesday morning that Army of Conquest-Qalamoun rebels “targeted the Abu Massoud al-Gharbi checkpoint [outside Rankous], killing everyone manning it and seizing all weapons, machinery and armored cars present.”
“The rebels also managed to take control of another checkpoint on the Rankous Plain, [where they] seized various munitions and a [ZSU-23-4] Shilka [armored] vehicle.”
The report also claimed that the regime had “summoned military reinforcements from the mountainous area around Assal al-Ward […] to cover their losses.”
“This coincided with heavy artillery and rocket fire from the [regime’s] Brigade 67 [Army Artillery Base] on the Rankous Plain.”
Pro-regime outlets made scant mention of any fighting in the area, however Syria Al-Hadath did say in a terse one line news item that the Syrian army had targeted an “armed group in the Rankous orchards and killed most of its members.”
Hezbollah advances
Hezbollah claimed it has gained ground along the western slopes of Syria’s Qalamoun Mountains – across from Lebanon’s Tfail and Nahle – amid reports that the militant party has suffered further casualties.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported Wednesday that “Syrian army forces and resistance mujahedeen took control of more than 50% of the mountainous area around Ras al-Maara,” due east of Lebanon’s Nahle.
The station explained that Hezbollah had seized control of the “Tallet al-Harf and Dahr al-Hawa elevations as well as all of the Khashaat elevations.”
Al-Manar noted that the Khashaat elevations lie along “the Lebanese Syria border to the east of Nahle, which overlooks a number of border crossings and a large portion of the mountains around Arsal.”
“Additionally, the Syrian army and the Mujahedeen launched an attack [on] positions [operated by] Nusra and other factions in the mountainous area around Ras al-Marra […], achieving a notable advance at the same time as shelling Tallet al-Musa.”
In turn, Lebanese daily As-Safir reported on Tuesday that the Syrian army and Hezbollah had captured the Qornet Mashrouh Haql Zeaiter and Jour Beit Abdul Haq elevations west of Ras al-Marra and east of Nahle.
According to the pro-Damascus paper, the Abdul Haq hilltop, which reaches 2428 meters in altitude and overlooks Lebanon’s Nahle area, was also seized.
“These elevations were a key base for the takfiri groups and were used to launch rockets and direct other aggression towards Lebanese territory,” the report read.
“As a result of these battles, [some] armed groups fled towards the mountainous areas around Flita and Lebanon’s Arsal.”
The sizeable Hezbollah advances have come at a price, with the SOHR saying late Tuesday that the party had lost eight of its fighters in the past 48 hours.
Arabic-language news outlets have reported higher death tolls, while the Army of Conquest-Qalamoun claimed on Tuesday that it had killed 35 Hezbollah fighters around the Al-Jubbah and Ras al-Maara area.
Battle for Tallet al-Musa
As battles continue to heat up in the rugged Qalamoun region, recent reports indicate that Hezbollah has been gearing up for a major fight to seize the strategic Tallet al-Musa height from rebels.
Control of Tallet Musa, one of the Qalamoun Mountain range’s highest peaks and a key strategic location overlooking Arsal and the Bekaa Valley, is something Hezbollah would spare no expense to achieve, All4Syria cited pro-rebel activist Thaer al-Qalamouni as saying.
In an interview with the Syrian Media Office, Qalamouni said that the main obstacle to the party was the strong fortifications the Free Syrian Army had built on the elevation.
All4Syria noted that Tallet Musa is located across the border from Lebanon’s Arsal in the mountainous area around Ras al-Maara and has an altitude of almost 2400 meters above sea level.
Online news website Mulhak also reported on the operation; on Wednesday morning, the pro-Hezbollah outlet cited “exclusive sources” as saying that Hezbollah and the Syrian army had launched an operation “to take control of the mountainous area around Flita and the strategic Tallet Musa [elevation].”
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