Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — The Syrian opposition has reported that the
Iran-backed Hizbullah was playing a leading role in an offensive by
the regime of President Bashar Assad near Damascus.

Opposition sources said Hizbullah was leading a force of several
thousand troops as well as Iraqi militia fighters in the offensive against
rebel strongholds around the Syrian capital.

The sources said Hizbullah was being supported by artillery and main battle tank fire by the Syrian Army.

“The attack began two days ago and included heavy weapons and air strikes,” the rebel Local Coordinational Committees said.

The rebel coalition said Hizbullah operated in coordination with the Syrian Army in the attack on the southern Damascus suburb of Sheik Omar. LCC said Hizbullah also deployed its year-old spinoff group Abu Al Fadel Al Abbas Brigades.

Hizbullah was said to have sustained heavy casualties in the Syrian Army
capture of Sheik Omar as well as the nearby village of Bassatine, which
oversee two highways leading to the border with Jordan. The sources said dozens of Hizbullah and other Shi’ite fighters were killed or injured in the operation.

The battle for Sheik Omar marked the first report of a major Hizbullah
operation in Syria since June 2013. At the time, Hizbullah played a leading
role in the capture of the southwestern border town of Qusair, deemed the
hub for rebel fighters and arms from Lebanon.

Over the last month, Hizbullah was said to have withdrawn about 1,000
troops from Syria, particularly from the cities of Aleppo and Homs. The
sources said Hizbullah, which at one point deployed more than
8,000 troops, had been under pressure from its Shi’ite constituents in
Lebanon to end involvement in the civil war in Syria.

The Hizbullah offensive has also shifted to other rebel-held strongholds
in southern Damascus. The sources cited Boueida and Thiabiya, which also
came under Syrian air strikes as well as artillery fire from the Syrian
Army’s Brigade 56.

“The Free Syrian Army is attacking pro-regime Hizbullah and Abu Al Fadel
Al Abbas Brigade bases in the city as battles continue to stop the regime
from advancing in the strategic area,” the opposition Shams News Network
reported on Oct. 10.

  Abu Al Fadel Abbas Brigades, Homs, Local Coordination Committees, Opposition: Hizbullah playing key role in Assad’s Damascus offensive, Sheik Omar