The Syrian army backed by the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah launched an assult on the city of Zabadani, near Damascus, in a fresh push to seize the last rebel stronghold along Lebanon’s border.
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The offensive on Zabadani comes one day after Hezbollah fighters moved into the outskirts of the Syrian border town and engaged in fierce fighting with militants who have maintained control of the town despite being surrounded by Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters. Another shell hit Damascus’ famous Dama Rose hotel, previously Le Meridien, near the affluent neighbourhood of Abu Rummaneh. The rebel groups in the area include al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing, the al-Nusra Front.
The assault began at dawn with a heavy barrage of missiles accompanied by dozens of aerial bombings raids and a large deployment of ground troops, rebel sources said.
The shelling caused damage to the hotel shattering some of its windows.
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.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV reported that the allied forces also blocked a major road north of Zabadani to cut off the militants’ supply line into other towns in Qalamoun, including Serghaya and Ain Hawr.
Hezbollah and the Syrian forces have been busy recently dislodging rebels from the eastern parts of the Qalamoun mountains, and their battle in Zabadani in the west was expected after both the allies retook nearly all the towns in eastern Qalamoun.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government’s air forces conducted 15 airstrikes on Saturday morning. It said the attack was being conducted by Hizbollah and Syria’s elite 4th Division.
The Islamic State group on Saturday released a video showing the execution of 25 Syrian soldiers in the ancient amphitheatre in the city of Palmyra.
The coalition initially made progress, but was pushed back by government forces and heavy air strikes that killed 29 rebels on Friday night, the Observatory said.
A bomb has exploded inside a mosque where al Qaida’s branch in Syria was holding a fast-breaking meal, killing at least 14, activists said.
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Syria-based activist Ahmad Al Ahmad, meanwhile, said that 15 Al Nusra fighters were killed and more than 30 wounded.
