Syrian troops backed by tanks and warplanes have launched an assault on a strategic rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, killing at least 30 people, activists said.
The town of Qusair has been besieged for weeks by regime troops and pro-government gunmen backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. The siege is part of a regime offensive that aims to regain control of the towns and villages along the frontier with Lebanon.
The border region’s strategic value is twofold: it links Damascus with the Mediterranean coastal enclave that is the heartland of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam; and rebels smuggle weapons and supplies from Lebanon across the frontier to opposition fighters inside Syria.
The Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rights said 30 people, including 16 rebel fighters and one woman, were killed in Qusair in fighting yesterday but that the death toll was expected to rise as government troops continue to try to push into the town.
