Best News - Syrian Regime Regains Key Border Town - Wall Street Journal

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By RIMA ABUSHAKRA

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Syrian government soldiers in front of the clock tower flying the national flag in the main square of Qusayr on Wednesday.

BEIRUT—Syrian government forces pushed rebels out of a strategic town after two weeks of grueling battles, marking the biggest rebel stronghold to be taken by the government during the Syrian war.

The battle for the city of Qusayr, described by both rebels and the regime as strategic territory, came to symbolize transnational sectarian struggle after Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese Shiite group, sent hundreds of fighters to battle alongside government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Assad and his closest supporters belong to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The victory in Qusayr gives Syria's government a boost ahead of American and Russian brokered peace talks planned in the coming weeks. Local factions and international players both see the talks as a face-off to try to shape the outcome after the two years of violence in the country.

Some analysts said the regime's capture of Qusayr could dispirit the factionalized opposition and encourage different groups to hunker down in areas they control.

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"If the battle for Qusayr served as a momentary rallying point for the rebellion, its fall may will feed the dynamic of fragmentation if recriminations and dejection settle in," said Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who wrote a book on the Syrian uprising. "It also shows that even a massive rebel commitment cannot deliver a victory in the face of superior Assad firepower and ability to mobilize resources where it matters most for the regime."

Rebels withdrew Wednesday morning to Bweyda, a village just north of Qusayr, according to activists accompanying them who were reached by Skype. They said they were besieged and under intense bombardment.

"They are dropping every kind of bomb on us. They want to kill us all," said one activist.

A spokeswoman for the International Committee for the Red Cross said that its workers hadn't been to Qusayr in recent months but estimate that hundreds of injured people remain in the city.

Qusayr is located close to the border with Lebanon and is a connecting point from Damascus to coastal port cities with large Alawite constituencies. Experts featured on Syrian state television said the city was used a transfer point for the smuggling of rebels and fighters.

Hezbollah played a prominent role in the fight for Qusayr, losing dozens of fighters, supporters of the group said. The group's open involvement has flared sectarian tensions in Lebanon and beyond.

Hezbollah's al-Manar television station aired live footage from within the ravaged and deserted town with a Syrian flag bearing a picture of Mr. Assad mounted atop a damaged clock tower in the town center. Damaged homes, shops and buildings were shown on either side of the empty streets.

Syrian state television said the army was dismantling land mines and explosives planted in the town, saying the city had been "cleansed from the filth of terrorists."

Meanwhile, American, Russian and United Nations representatives met in Geneva on Wednesday to set the agenda and date for peace talks known as Geneva II between the Syrian government and the opposition in the coming weeks.

Analysts have said that the recent battlefield gains made by the Syrian military put the regime in a strong negotiating position ahead of the talks planned for this summer.

Write to Rima Abushakra at rima.abushakra@wsj.com

05 Jun, 2013

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