Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has deployed
thousands of troops, including Hizbullah fighters, for an offensive against
rebel strongholds around Damascus.

The opposition has reported a massive regime operation to expel the
rebel presence around Damascus. Assad’s military, backed by Hizbullah and
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was said to have surrounded
several rebel strongholds south of the Syrian capital.

Opposition sources said Assad forces were ordered to exploit their capture of the rebel hub of Qusair in early June with massive attacks on Sunni strongholds around Aleppo and Damascus. They said the regime assessed
that the fall of Qusair would prevent military supplies and even rebels from reaching these two cities.

Much of the fighting around Damascus has taken place in the Zayabiyeh southeast of Damascus, regarded as a key rebel base. The sources said Hizbullah, with regional headquarters in Sayida Zeinab southeast of the
capital, was playing a major role in ground operations with support from Syrian Army artillery and helicopters.

“Hizbullah fighters, who have a strong presence at Sayida Zeinab, are
trying to seize control of villages near Zayabiyeh and Babila,” the
opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The sources said Hizbullah has also introduced its new Syrian proxy in
the offensive around Damascus. They said more than 1,000 Shi’ite fighters
from Abu Al Fadl Abbas Brigade, comprised of residents of villages near the
Lebanese border, were sent to attack rebel targets.

“Now, regime troops and militiamen backed by Hizbullah and the Abu Al
Fadl Abbas Brigade are deploying en masse, with dozens of military vehicles
and tanks, rocket launchers and heavy machine guns,” the Syrian National
Coalition said.

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