Hezbollah negotiates with rebels to release 11 militants

Lebanon's Hezbollah militia has conducted negotiations with armed opposition to release 11 militants who were captured during the ongoing battles near Damascus, according to website loyal to the Iran proxy in Syria.

No more details have been revealed when or where yet, analysts said Hezbollah insist to release its hostages to ease the mounting outrage amid Shia families.

Assad's military resurgence this year has relied to a great extent on support from Shi'ite Iranand fighters from Hezbollah and Iraqi militias, some of them based around a Shi'ite shrine southeast of Damascus.

They have helped turn the tide against the Sunni Muslim rebels, whose ranks are increasingly dominated by Islamist fighters and al Qaeda-linked foreign jihadists, Reuters reported.

"In the last few months Assad has been increasingly leaving the fighting in the urban areas, especially Damascus and its environs, to his Shi'ite allies," a Middle East security official said to Reuters.