Lebanon News: "Hezbollah launches offensive in Zabadani"

[KoKo]

Lebanon News
Jul. 02, 2015 | 12:25 AM
Hezbollah launches offensive in Zabadani

The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Hezbollah fighters moved into the outskirts of the Syrian border town of Zabadani Wednesday, engaging in fierce fighting with Syrian rebel factions, according to a Lebanese security source.

Before launching the attack on the western outskirts of the town, Hezbollah heavily shelled the militants’ positions with rockets and mortar bombs, the source added.

Hezbollah had prepared to wage an all-out offensive on Zabadani by sending large quantities of weapons and ammunition into Lebanon’s eastern mountain range earlier this week.

Zabadani is one of the largest towns in Syria’s Qalamoun region, and one of the Syrian rebels’ last strongholds along Lebanon’s border.

Security sources told The Daily Star that the decision to launch the offensive came after negotiations with rebels failed to secure the militants’ withdrawal from the area, which is located 50 kilometers northwest of Damascus.

The town bears strategic significance for Hezbollah since it once served as a logistical hub for supplying the party with Iranian weapons. It also served as a base for party fighters and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who had entered Syria to fight alongside the regime.

The capture of the town of Zabadani would add to Hezbollah’s field victories in recent weeks since its offensive began in Qalamoun last May.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jul-02/304733-hezbollah-launches-offensive-in-zabadani.ashx