Lebanon: Hezbollah sends more fighters to Syria after rebels issue ultimatum
Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah appears to be shrugging off a 24-hour ultimatum set on Tuesday by a Free Syrian Army (FSA) official to end the group’s involvement in the Syrian conflict.
Syrian elite forces and extra fighters from Hezbollah have been sent to reinforce government troops battling rebels in the strategic border town of Qusair, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
Government fighter jets early Wednesday bombed rebel zones of the town as regime forces readied to launch a major assault, according to the watchdog.
Hezbollah fighters and crack troops of Syria’s elite Republican Guards had been sent to reinforce government ranks, Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP news agency.
The latest violence comes after Brigadier General Salim Idris, the current chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council of the FSA, said: “If the attacks of Hezbollah [on] Syrian territory do not stop within 24 hours, we will take all measures to hunt Hezbollah, even in hell.”