Bashar al-Assad's forces and allied
Lebanese militia Hezbollah stepped up attacks on Syria's strategic border town
of Yabroud on Saturday, activists said, in apparent preparation for a new
offensive to flush out rebels.
More than 10 air strikes had already
hit the mountain border town on Saturday, Zaman Alwasl reporter in Qalamoun
said. Rebels also claimed to have shot down MIG-16 fighter jet and destroying four tanks of Assad’s army.
Meanwhile, Pro-opposition ‘Radio Free Syria’ assured
killing of 17 militants of Hezbollah including top commander.
The Radio quoted eye-witnesses saying
that regime forces had withdrawn from Yabroud after suffering heavy losses,
with large numbers of bodies of Hezbollah militants.
The assault on Yabroud is the latest
step in Assad and Hezbollah's campaign to secure the Lebanese-Syrian border
region and fortify the president's hold on central Syria, from the capital
Damascus to his stronghold on the coast.
The attack is part of what locals
have called the "Battle for Qalamoun," the name of mountainous region
along the frontier with Lebanon used by both the rebels and Assad's allies to
smuggle in people and supplies.
Syria's nearly three-year conflict
began as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule but
devolved into an armed conflict after a security force crackdown.
Syria's war has since March 2011
killed more than 140,000 people and forced millions more to flee.
The United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNCHR) said on Feb 9 that over 10,000 Syrians mainly from Sahel
and Yabrud in Syria have arrived to Arsal, Lebanon.
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