DAMASCUS, Syria
(AP) -- Government troops captured a neighborhood Monday in the
embattled city of Homs that has been a rebel stronghold since the
beginning of the Syrian uprising, dealing another blow to beleaguered
opposition forces in the center of the country, according to the state
media.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights activist group, however, denied that regime forces had
seized all of the district of Khaldiyeh, saying there was still
scattered fighting in southern areas of the neighborhood.
Syrian
TV aired footage from the neighborhood, showing troops roaming deserted
streets and waving flags in front of shell-scarred buildings. Two
opposition activists in the area who could normally be contacted via
Skype were offline Monday.
Government troops
launched a sweeping offensive to retake rebel-held areas of Homs,
Syria's third-largest city, a month ago. Even if small pockets of
resistance remain, the fall of Khaldiyeh to regime troops appeared to be
a foregone conclusion, and its capture would be the second major
setback to rebels in central Syria in as many months.
In
early June, regime forces captured the strategic town of Qusair in Homs
province near the border with Lebanon. Troops have also captured the
town of Talkalakh, another border town in the province.
The
province of Homs is Syria's largest, and runs from the Lebanese
frontier in the west all the way to the border with Iraq and Jordan in
the east. The city of Homs holds strategic value because it serves as a
crossroads: the main highway from Damascus to the north as well as the
coastal region, which is a stronghold of President Bashar Assad's
Alawite sect, runs through Homs.
Khaldiyeh had
a population of about 80,000 but only some 2,000 remain there today as
residents fled the violence, activists say. The heavy fighting over the
past two years has caused extensive damage, with some buildings reduced
to rubble.
In a report on Monday, Syrian state
TV said "the Syrian army has restored security and stability in the
whole neighborhood of Khaldiyeh in Homs."
A
Syrian TV reporter embedded with troops in the area gave a live report
standing in front of damaged buildings. He interviewed an army officer
who said the troops fought a tough battle against rebels who mined
buildings and fought from underground tunnels.
"As
of this morning, our armed forces in cooperation with the
(pro-government paramilitary) National Defense Forces have taken control
of Khaldiyeh and are now cleansing the neighborhood," said the officer,
surrounded by about a dozen soldiers and plainclothes security agents.
"The fate of terrorists will be under our feet," he said, claiming that all Homs will be soon "cleansed" of rebels.
The
Observatory has said that troops are backed by members of Lebanon's
Hezbollah group. Hezbollah, which did not acknowledge whether its
members are fighting in Khaldiyeh, played a major role in a battle last
month in Qusair, outside Homs, and lost scores of men there.
Observatory
director Rami Abdul-Rahman said government troops have captured most of
the neighborhood apart from some fighting on its southern areas.
Another
opposition activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the matter, said the battle in Khaldiyeh "is almost
over." He acknowledged that troops are almost in full control of the
area.
In the northern city of Aleppo, several
rebel factions including the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra
Front, attacked army posts in two neighborhoods in a an offensive titled
"amputating infidels" the Observatory said.
It
said rebels captured several buildings in the neighborhoods of Dahret
Abed Rabbo and Lairamoun, and that eight government soldiers were
killed.
Rebels have been on the offensive in
Aleppo province and captured last week the strategic town of Khan
el-Assal. Activists and state media said score of troops were killed
there after their capture. The Western-backed Syrian National Council
condemned the killings.
In the southern region
of Quneitra, on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights,
government troops captured the town of Mashara on Sunday night after
intense fighting, the Observatory said.
----(AP)
Mroue reported from Beirut
No comments:
Post a Comment