The New York Times Rebels shelled Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon.

Hezbollah Aids Syrian Military in a Key Battle
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces backed by Lebanese fighters from the militant group Hezbollah pushed Sunday into parts of Qusayr, a strategic city long held by rebels, according to an antigovernment activist and pro-government news channels. If the advance holds, it would be a serious setback for opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

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The New York Times
Rebels shelled Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon.
Both sides called it one of the war’s most intense ground battles. The fight seemed likely to inflame regional tensions as Hezbollah plunges more deeply into the conflict in Syria, increasing fears of a regional conflagration.

The Syrian military hammered Qusayr, on the Lebanon border, with airstrikes and artillery, killing at least 52 people and wounding hundreds as civilians cowered, unable to flee the city, activists said. By day’s end about 60 percent of the city, including the municipal office building, was under the army’s control for the first time in months, one activist said. Residents said rebels kept fighting into the night in Qusayr, killing a number of Hezbollah and government fighters.

Syrian state television said the army had “tightened the noose on the terrorists,” the government’s term for its armed opponents, by attacking from several directions. State news media said the army had “restored security and stability” to most of the city, killing many rebel fighters and capturing others.

The battle for the city, in heavily contested Homs Province, is viewed by both loyalists and government opponents as a turning point that could, in the words of one activist in Qusayr, “decide the fate of the regime and the revolution.”

“It is one of the hardest days all over Syria,” said the activist, Tarek, who would give only his first name because he was concerned for his safety. “If Qusayr is finished, it will be the end of the revolution in Homs.”

Mr. Assad, according to people who have spoken with him, believes that reasserting his hold in Homs Province is crucial to maintaining control of a string of population centers in western Syria, and eventually to military campaigns to retake rebel-held territory in the north and east. Many analysts say it is unlikely that the government will be able to regain control of those areas, but that it could consolidate its grip on the west, leading to a de facto division of the country.

The battle has brought Hezbollah’s role in Syria to the forefront as the war becomes a regional conflict, pitting Shiite-led Iran, the main backer of Mr. Assad and Hezbollah, against the Sunni Muslim states and their Western allies that support the uprising.

In the Hezbollah heartland in southern Lebanon, residents were electrified by a new sense that they were at war, according to Ali, a local resident who is related to a Hezbollah fighter sent to Qusayr. Ali said that 14 Hezbollah fighters had died on Sunday, a figure that is consistent with claims by rebels and with those on unofficial Hezbollah Web sites. If it is confirmed, the toll would make the battle by far the group’s most costly action since it entered the Syrian conflict.

“It reminds me of the July 2006 war,” Ali said Sunday night, referring to Hezbollah’s war with Israel, its last major battle. “All the people are still up. They are waiting anxiously; they’re praying for victory for our fighters.”

Tensions have risen in Lebanon as Syrian rebels have shelled Hezbollah-controlled areas. On Sunday, they hit the Lebanese town of Hermel with Grad rockets, activists said.

Ali said his relative reported in a text message from Qusayr: “Things are fine. They are perfect.”

He said he supported Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria because it would deter the rise of Sunni extremist groups like Al Nusra Front among the rebels. “If we don’t defend our villages,” he said, referring to Shiite villages in Syria, “Al Nusra will be outside our homes the next day.”

Residents of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, bordering Syria, have reported a recent increase in the funerals of Hezbollah fighters there. One resident described Lebanese Shiites in the area as being concerned about their relatives in the ranks. “They are soldiers — they have to go,” the resident said.

Though many Lebanese Shiites support Mr. Assad, there is quiet consternation over the fact that Hezbollah fighters are being killed in battles with fellow Arab Muslims, in a country where they have many ties, rather than fighting the group’s primary enemy, Israel.

Perhaps seeking to address such concerns, Hezbollah, which depends on Mr. Assad for its shipments of weapons from Iran, recently acknowledged its military role in Syria more openly. The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said the group would not allow Qusayr, or the Syrian government, to fall to a rebellion that it views as being instigated by Israel and the West.
Anne Barnard and Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut. Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.