Four Hezbollah fighters were killed in ferocious clashes in the besieged Syrian city of Zabadani, as the Lebanese group and its Syrian army allies slowly advance toward the city's center, a security source told The Daily Star Sunday.
Hezbollah lost four other fighters Thursday as the two allies captured the Othman and Rawdat al-Baraem al-Khasa neighborhoods in the western part of the city after fierce clashes with rebels, a security source and the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar said.
The source also said that the Syrian militants were attempting to contact the Syrian army to negotiate a fresh ceasefire but were being stonewalled.
Heavy fighting in Zabadani resumed last weekend after the collapse of a three-day cease-fire agreement that was brokered by Iran and Turkey.
The agreement called on rebels to halt their offensive on the Idlib villages of Kefraya and Foua and allow supplies to enter the area, in exchange for the same terms in Zabadani.
However, negotiations to extend the agreement failed, with rebel sources active in Zabadani blaming that failure on Iran’s insistence that people inside Zabadani be evacuated to the north.
Since then, the Syrian army has targeted rebel positions in the villages of Madaya and Bukain, south of Zabadani, which began with an aerial bombardment of Madaya Tuesday.
Many rebels and their families who fled Zabadani had taken refuge in Madaya, which has also served as an important supply hub for fighters inside the besieged city.
The heavy shelling of Madaya is purportedly to pressure rebels to ease their attacks on of Kefraya and Foua.
Hezbollah’s offensive to retake Zabadani, considered the last significant rebel stronghold on the Lebanese-Syrian border, was launched in June.
Another Hezbollah fighter was killed near the Syrian city of Palmyra, the security source added.
ISIS (Daesh) forces overran Palmyra on May 21, after sweeping towards the city from their strongholds in eastern Deir al-Zor and Raqqa.
