Syrian forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, are in full control of Yabroud after clearing out rebels holed up in the strategic Syrian town for months, Syrian state media and opposition activists have reported.
Capturing Yabroud, the last major rebel bastion near the Lebanese border north of Damascus, will help President Bashar al-Assad secure the land route linking his Mediterranean coastal stronghold with the capital Damascus, and choke off a cross-border rebel supply line from Lebanon.
“The Syrian army is now in full control of the town of Yabroud in Damascus [province] and are now combing through the city and the dismantling the roadside bombs planted by terrorists,” SANA news agency reported on Sunday.