Hezbollah fighters and Syrian army troops launched fresh attacks Saturday on the southern Qalamoun city of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, security sources and Al-Manar television said.
Ground fighting got underway around dawn, accompanied by intense air raids and shelling, the sources told The Daily Star.
Several casualties were reported on both sides as Hezbollah attmpted to storm the village from the west, according to the sources.
Footage aired on Hezbollah-run Al-Manar showed plumes of white smoke billowing upward from several areas in Zabadani after being hit by Syrian warplanes and shells. The footage also showed Hezbollah fighters firing mortars at what Al-Manar said were militant positions.
Several buildings were shown on fire.
The security sources told The Daily Star that Syrian warplanes dropped around 80 barrel bombs during the last three days to tighten the noose on rebels and force them to withdraw.
Hezbollah, according to the sources, is mobilizing in northern Bekaato send more reinforcements to aid its fighters in the battle.
On Friday, the allied forces struck militant posts in Zabadani and the neighboring village of Bloudan in a fresh push to seize the last militant stronghold along Lebanon’s eastern border.
Pro-Syrian opposition media websites said that Syrian rebels inside Zabadani have launched a pre-emptive operation they dubbed the “Revolutionary Volcano” to thwart the Hezbollah and Syrian army offensive.
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 and 12 kilometers northeast of Lebanon’s Masnaa border crossing.
Zabadani bears strategic significance for Hezbollah since it once served as a logistical hub for supplying Hezbollah with Iranian weapons. It also served as a base for party fighters and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The capture of the town would add to Hezbollah’s major field victories, which saw the party take large swathes of Qalamoun hills since their offensive, backed by the Syrian army, began in the region last May.
