Hezbollah Deploys 2,000 Troops to Syria... "Rebels Near Damascus"

Lebanese pro-Iranian militant group Hezbollah has reportedly deployed about 2,000 fighters to support the Syrian government forces struggling against rebel offensives, AFP reported on the 7th (local time).

On the 6th (local time), Syrian rebels hold rocket launchers. Photo by AP Yonhap News.

An anonymous source close to Hezbollah told AFP, "Hezbollah sent 2,000 fighters to al-Qusayr in Syria to defend positions in the area," adding, "There has not yet been any engagement with Syrian rebels."

Al-Qusayr, located in western Syria near the Lebanese border, is close to Homs, where the Syrian rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are mounting an offensive. It is also a key route for smuggling weapons to Hezbollah through the Syrian regime, making it a frequent target of Israeli airstrikes.

The rebels recently captured the central stronghold of Hama following their takeover of Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, and are continuing to advance southward, concentrating their offensive on Homs, the gateway to the capital Damascus.

On the same day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a civil war monitoring group, reported to AFP that some rebel forces had advanced to a point about 20 km from Damascus.

Moreover, it is reported that some rebel factions have taken control of a significant part of the Daraa region south of Damascus, putting government forces under pressure from both the south and north.