FSA chief: After Qusayr, Hezbollah fighters reach Idlib and Aleppo

Fighters from the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, have infiltrated two other Syrian provinces, Idlib and Aleppo, after leading the fight against rebels in a strategic town in Homs province, a Free Syrian Army commander told Al Arabiya on Friday.

Colonel Fateh Hassoun, who is the deputy chief of Staff and commander of FSA front in the central province of Homs, said the Syrian army is bombarding certain areas to help camouflage Hezbollah fighters, adding it is the latest military tactic that is being employed by the Syrian government.

The colonel said it is the same method which helped elite Hezbollah fighters to maintain control over the strategic town of Qusayr in Homs.

During clashes between rebels and Hezbollah fighters in Qusyar activists said the Syrian government was providing the Shiite Lebanese fighters with an aerial shield to help them advance into the strategic town that borders Lebanon.

Qusayr has witnessed fierce fighting between Syrian rebels and Hezbollah fighters.

On Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Hezbollah fighters were leading the fight against rebels in Qusayr.

“It’s Hezbollah that is leading the battle in Qusayr, with its elite forces,” Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

“It’s not necessarily fighters coming from Lebanon, its Hezbollah fighters from Shiite villages on the Syrian side which are inhabited by Lebanese,” he said.

That has raised fears among the rebels that the town of Qusayr could fall into government hands.

Qusayr is a town near a key highway that links Damascus to Syria’s coast.