Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Dubai -Rebels fighting for control of the Syrian town of Qusayr called for reinforcements on Wednesday to repel forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad in a civil war which is spreading violence through an already volatile region. Opposition fighters said air strikes and shelling rocked the small town on the Syrian-Lebanese border that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in months in the two-year-old war that has so far cost at least 80,000 lives. “Forces from outside Syria” aim to destroy Qusayr and rebels should join the fight to “rescue” the town, George Sabra, the acting chief of the Syrian National Coalition, said in a statement. Sabra also urged Lebanese authorities to respect Syria’s sovereignty by preventing foreign gunmen from crossing the border. The fighting has drawn in Hezbollah fighters, the latest sign of outside involvement in the war and evidence, according to Britain, that Iran and its allies in the militant group are lending increasing support to Al Assad. After months of warnings from regional and international experts, violence is now spilling over Syria’s borders, with clashes between pro- and anti-Assad factions in the Lebanese city of Tripoli and exchanges of fire between Syrian and Israeli forces in the Occupied Golan Heights. Countries supporting the Syrian uprising against President Bashar Al Assad met in Amman Wednesday to discuss ways to end the bloody conflict. Eleven top diplomats from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, are set to discuss a US-Russian proposal for peace talks.
Gulf News Report
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