Lebanon soldiers inspect area in the town of Seriine in the Bekaa Valley where rockets struck from rebels based in the border areas around Syria. The tensions between the western-backed rebels and Hezbollah have escalated., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Several killed as Syrian rebels clash with Hizbullah in Lebanon
Humanitarian agencies express concern over civilians trapped by siege of Qusayr
Mon, Jun 3, 2013, 01:00
Hizbullah fought with Syrian rebels in Lebanon’s eastern border region yesterday, in the latest eruption of Syria’s conflict on Lebanese soil.
Up to 17 Syrian rebels and one Hizbullah fighter were reported killed three kilometres inside Lebanon where rebels were setting up launchers to fire rockets toward the city of Baalbek, a Hizbullah stronghold in the northern Bekaa Valley. Four Hizbullah members were said to have been wounded.
Lebanese television said the rebels were from the Free Syrian Army but al-Mayadeen, an independent channel, said they were members of Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
The encounter followed a declaration by rebels that they would target Hizbullah in retaliation for its involvement with the Syrian army in the battle for Qusayr, the transit hub for arms and fighters entering Syria from Lebanon.
As fighting between Syrian army troops and rebels in the strategic town of Qusayr intensified, pressure was exerted by humanitarian agencies and the UN to evacuate civilians and wounded trapped by the two-week-old siege and blockade.
Ready with aid
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed alarm over the situation and said teams from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were in nearby Homs and ready to deliver aid. “Civilians and the wounded are at risk of paying an even higher price as the fighting continues,” said ICRC regional operations chief Robert Mardini.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos and UN human rights head Navi Pillay estimated that there were 1,500 wounded in Qusayr in what was a “desperate” situation.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s office asked the sides to allow civilians to leave but Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said Damascus would allow the Red Crescent into Qusayr “as soon as military operations are over”.
A UN Security Council statement, drafted by Britain, voicing “grave concern” over the situation and demanding immediate access by humanitarian agencies was blocked by Russia which said the council said nothing when Qusayr was occupied by rebels 18 months ago.
Nine killed
In the Damascus suburb of Jobar, nine security men were killed by a bomb planted near a police station by Jabhat al-Nusra, said the Britain-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Syrian state news agency Sana reported that the toxic chemical agent sarin, automatic rifles, pistols, and improvised explosive devices were seized by troops at the Faraieh district of Hama city.
The battle for Qusayr has fanned the flames of sectarianism portraying it as a conflict between Sunni fighters and allies of Shia Iran: the Syrian government and Hizbullah.
In Beirut an association of Lebanese Sunni scholars has called on followers to support Syrian rebels by “words, money, medical aid and fighting”, and popular Qatar-based Sunni television preacher Yousef al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa, a religious ruling, calling on Sunnis to join rebels in Qusayr.
In a likely spillover, three Syrian lorry drivers were killed by gunmen in Iraq, their vehicles burnt, and four Iraqis abducted. Sunni Iraqis have been fighting Syrian rebels for many months while Shia Iraqis have volunteered for service with the Syrian army.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis urged Syrian kidnappers to free hostages without, apparently, specifying two Orthodox Christian bishops held since April. Hostage-taking has been a feature of the Syrian conflict.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has suggested the US-Russian proposed international peace conference could be postponed until July. “The Geneva . . . conference is the last chance,” he said.
Hezbollah fighters and Syria rebels in deadly clash inside Lebanon
Hezbollah ambush in remote area near Syrian border said to be in reprisal for rocket attack on militia's stronghold of Baalbek
Associated Press in Beirut
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 June 2013 14.12 EDT
Syrian rebels have fought with Hezbollah gunmen in a deadly clash on Lebanese soil, a security official and local media said on Sunday, in the latest sign that Syria's civil war is spilling over the country's borders.
It was the worst clash between the two sides on Lebanese territory since the outbreak of the Syria conflict more than two years ago. The violence highlighted the growing risk that the fighting in Syria poses to Lebanon, whose volatile sectarian makeup mirrors that of its neighbour.
Tensions between Hezbollah and Syria's rebels have risen sharply since the Lebanese militia stepped up its armed support for President Bashar al-Assad's regime last month.
Rebel fighters have threatened to attack Hezbollah bases in Lebanon, and on Saturday 18 rockets and mortar rounds hit the eastern Baalbek region, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Overnight, Hezbollah apparently encircled and ambushed a group of Syrian rebels and allied Lebanese fighters they suspected of firing on Baalbek, the Lebanese security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said a Hezbollah fighter and several rebels were killed in the clashes in a remote area between Baalbek and the Syrian border.
The Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen, seen as sympathetic to the Syrian regime, quoted Lebanese security officials as saying 17 fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, a rebel group linked to al-Qaida, were killed in the fighting.
The growing tensions between Hezbollah and the Syrian rebels trying to oust Assad are linked to a government offensive against the rebel-held town of Qusair in western Syria.
Hezbollah's involvement in the battle for control of the strategic town has exposed its growing role in the conflict, prompting rebel threats to target Hezbollah's bases in Lebanon.
On Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN humanitarian agencies expressed alarm over the fate of thousands of civilians believed to be trapped in Qusair, including many wounded, and called on both sides to allow aid to reach the town.
The ICRC said that "many of the wounded are not receiving the medical care they need desperately" and that food, water and medical supplies were scarce. The UN agencies called for an immediate ceasefire to allow civilians to leave the town.
On Sunday, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, to express concern about the situation in Qusair, according to Syria's state-run news agency SANA.
Moallem, however, told Ban that the ICRC and other aid agencies will only be able to enter Qusair "after the end of military operations there".
Fighting has already dragged on for three weeks and so far neither side has been able to deliver a decisive blow. Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters launched the offensive against Qusair in mid-May and gained ground, but rebels have been able to defend some positions.
Low-flying Israeli warplanes also violated Lebanese airspace, overflying Beirut, the eastern Bekaa valley and Baalbek.
The Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman, said Beirut would lodge a complaint with the UN about Israel's "extensive" violations of Lebanese airspace. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
The flights come amid heightened regional tensions because of the civil war in Syria. Israel is believed to have carried out three airstrikes inside Syria this year, said to be aimed at weapons destined for Hezbollah.
Also on Sunday, a car bomb killed at least three people in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, a Syrian government official said on condition of anonymity.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition group, said the blast targeted a police station and killed nine Syrian soldiers. It said that Jabhat al-Nusra carried out the attack.
SANA blamed the blast on a suicide bomber. The observatory and SANA said the explosion took place amid heavy fighting. Jobar is a scene of frequent clashes, with rebels trying to push from there toward the capital.
The army has been conducting major sweeps through opposition strongholds around Damascus, including Jobar.
Israeli warplanes conduct low-altitude flights over Lebanon
Sun Jun 2, 2013 9:49AM GMT
presstv.ir
Israeli warplanes have once again violated Lebanon’s airspace, conducting low-altitude flights over eastern parts of the country.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the aircraft flew over the Bekaa Valley and other parts of the country early on Sunday in blatant violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
Israel violates Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.
Lebanon’s government, the Hezbollah resistance movement, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, have repeatedly condemned the overflights, saying they are in clear violation of UN Resolution 1701 and the Lebanese sovereignty.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched on Lebanon in 2006, calls on the Tel Aviv regime to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In 2009, Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations, presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violations of Lebanese territory.
Assad has gained upper hand: McCain
Sun Jun 2, 2013 11:0PM GMT
presstv.ir
US Republican Senator John McCain acknowledges that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has gained the upper hand in fight against foreign-backed militants.
In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, McCain said, “We are seeing unfortunately a battlefield situation where Bashar Assad now has the upper hand."
McCain, who last week surreptitiously visited Syria, urged the administration of President Barack Obama to intervene immediately in the Syrian crisis, claiming that the longer the US waited the more the situation was unraveling.
He added that Assad is unlikely to step down, which is what the US and its allies want him to do.
Commenting on the expected participation of the Syrian government delegation in the upcoming Geneva peace talks, McCain said, "Anyone that believes that Bashar Assad is going to go to a conference in Geneva when he is prevailing on the battlefield, it's just ludicrous to assume that."
At a meeting in Moscow on May 7, Russia and the United States reached an agreement to convene an international conference on Syria, which would serve as a follow-up to an earlier Geneva meeting held in June 2012.
On Friday, McCain said the Syrian militants are in dire need of “ammunition and heavy weapons” as the government troops are gaining ground in the crisis-hit country.
“There’s no doubt that they (the militants) need some kind of capability to reverse the battlefield situation, which right now is in favor of Assad," he said.
McCain, who is a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, has been an outspoken supporter of arming the militants in Syria, a stance the Obama administration has shied away from adopting officially though there have been reports of the US role in coordinating the shipment of arms to the militants through Turkey and Jordan.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
Assad said on May 23, “Syria is determined to tackle terrorism and those who support it regionally and globally, and to find a political solution to the crisis.”
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