Syrian army and Hezbollah launch major assault on border city -TV station

DAMASCUS: The Syrian army, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah, tightened the siege on the rebels in the rebel-held city of Zabadani, close to the Lebanese border, the Syrian official TV said on Saturday.

The army, with its Shiite ally Hezbollah, has long sought to wrest control of Zabadani from the Sunni rebels.

The mountainous region, which straddles the Lebanese-Syrian border, was previously used by the al-Nusra Front militants for transferring weapons and ammunition into Syria, where they have been involved in terrorist activities. The rebels were retreating, the station said. Some of the hotel’s windows were shattered.

Al-Manar said Hezbollah fighters and Syrian troops are attacking from several directions, adding that rebels are isolated inside Zabadani, which is surrounded by mountains.

The Syrian state news agency reported that one person was killed and two wounded.

Pro-Syrian opposition media websites said that Syrian rebels inside Zabadani have launched a pre-emptive operation they dubbed the “Revolutionary Volcano” to thwart the Hezbollah and Syrian army offensive.

It showed footage of plumes of smoke hanging over the city.

The Syrian air force conducted 15 airstrikes on Saturday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. It said the attack was being conducted by Hezbollah and Syria’s elite 4th Division. The Observatory said the resort was subjected to more than 90 airstrikes on Friday alone.

The video documents an execution that reportedly happened shortly after the jihadist group captured the city on May 21.

The coalition initially made progress, but was pushed back by government forces on Friday night, the Observatory said. Thursday’s push also saw Syrian regime forces pounding militant positions in Zabadani from surrounding bases, a security source told The Daily Star.

Saturday’s offensive came a day after a bombing at a mosque where al-Qaida’s branch in Syria was holding a fast-breaking meal, killing at least 14, activists said. Mahmoud was killed during what activists said were clashes between Hizbullah fighters and Islamic State fighters in Al-Qaa in Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria.

The differences in casualty estimates could not be immediately explained since the Nusra Front cordoned off the area.