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Syria conflict: Fierce battle for key town of Qusair Syria conflict: Fierce battle for key town of Qusair
(about 3 hours later)
Fighting has been raging in the western Syrian town of Qusair after government troops launched a major operation to seize the strategic rebel stronghold. Fierce fighting has been reported in the strategic Syrian town of Qusair, as rebels and government forces backed by Hezbollah militants fight for control.
State media said the army had "restored security and stability" to most of the town - a claim denied by activists. The state news agency reported that the army had taken control of most of the town on Monday, and killed more than 100 of what it called "terrorists".
Lebanese militants are said to be involved - Hezbollah siding with the army, and Sunni gunmen with the rebels. Activists denied that Qusair had been captured, but said some 50 people had died in heavy shelling since Sunday.
At least 50 people have reportedly been killed since Sunday. The fighting has spilled into Lebanon. They also said at least 23 Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon had been killed.
Several mortar rounds fired from Syria struck Lebanon's north-eastern town of Hermel on Sunday, Lebanon's National News Agency said. No casualties or major damage were reported. Qusair, a small town about 30km (18 miles) south-west of the city of Homs, is seen as important to both sides.
The agency said that in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, at least five people were injured in clashes between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel backers. It helps link Damascus with government strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and is a conduit for rebel supplies and fighters from Lebanon, whose border is 10km (6 miles) away.
In a separate development, the UK-based Oxfam aid agency warned that Jordan and Lebanon were in urgent need of help to support hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who had fled the fighting. 'Impending massacre'
Oxfam said a combination of rising temperatures and poor sanitation posed increased health risks for the refugees. More than 100 cases of "Aleppo boil", a condition caused by a parasite, had been diagnosed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, it added. Fighting has raged for weeks around Qusair, which has been controlled by the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad for about a year.
'House-to-house' battles Following a day of heavy bombardment by aircraft and artillery, the army launched an offensive to recapture the town on Sunday. By the evening, they had taken the municipality building in the town centre and were advancing, according to state media.
Syrian troops on Sunday managed to secure most of Qusair and "eliminated large numbers of terrorists, most of them non-Syrians", the state-run Sana news agency reported. The claim was denied by opposition activists, although they admitted the rebels had suffered very heavy casualties. They posted video on the internet showing chaotic scenes at what they said was a field hospital filled with wounded fighters and civilians trapped in the town.
Military source quoted by the agency said dozens of rebels had surrendered and the army was now "pursuing the armed terrorist groups in some areas" of the town. On Monday morning, the Sana state news agency reported that army units had "restored security and stability" to most districts of Qusair, and "eliminated large numbers of terrorists, most of them non-Syrians". Twelve leading rebels allegedly among the dead were named.
However the BBC's Jim Muir, monitoring developments from Lebanon, says reports on state TV were filmed from well outside Qusair and gave no sense that the town had fallen entirely to government forces. However, state television's reports from the Qusair area were all filmed from well outside the town's perimeter and gave no sense that it had fallen almost entirely to the government forces, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.
Qusair resident and opposition activist Hadi Abdullah said government troops were engaging in house-to-house battles on Sunday, according to the Associated Press news agency. Activist groups also denied that the army had captured most of the town. One report said that six army tanks were destroyed as they tried to advance.
"It's the heaviest [shelling] since the beginning of the revolution," he said, quoted by AP news agency. Our correspondent says it is not clear how many civilians remain trapped in Qusair.
He also denied the government had made advances in the town. Opposition sources estimate that at least 40,000 are still there, though it is thought many may have fled long ago, he adds.
UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 52 people had been killed in Qusair - 48 fighters and three civilians. State television said that the army had set up a protected corridor for civilians to escape the fighting, but activists said many people feared persecution and torture once they entered government-controlled areas.
Unconfirmed reports in Lebanese media that a number of Hezbollah fighters had been killed in a rebel ambush. The main opposition alliance, the National Coalition, warned of an impending "massacre", and called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League.
The town - close to the border with Lebanon and with a population of 30,000 - has great strategic value. Controlling it would give the government access from the capital to the coast. For the rebels, holding Qusair means they can come and go from Lebanon. There were also reports that members of the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah, had joined the government side in the battle, while Lebanese Sunni militants were said to be supporting the rebels.
It is not clear how many residents have fled, but the opposition National Coalition warned of an impending massacre and called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said 23 elite Hezbollah fighters had been killed and about 70 wounded.
In recent weeks the Syrian military has won back surrounding villages and countryside and has encircled Qusair in Homs province. Several mortar rounds fired from Syria also struck Lebanon's north-eastern town of Hermel - a Hezbollah stronghold - on Sunday, Lebanon's National News Agency said. No casualties were reported.
The UN said last week that the death toll in Syria had reached at least 80,000 since the conflict began in March 2011. Refugee health risks
Activists said the number could be as high as 120,000. In a separate development on Monday, Oxfam said Jordan and Lebanon were in urgent need of help to support hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled the fighting.
A combination of rising summer temperatures and poor sanitation posed increased health risks for the refugees, the British aid agency warned.
Many of those crossing the border from Syria end up in inadequate shelters, it added. Some refugees are living in an empty shopping centre; others on the outskirts of a cemetery.
The UN says more than 1.5 million Syrians have fled abroad. There are also an estimated 4.25 million internally displaced people.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned against setting arbitrary deadlines for the international conference proposed by Washington and Moscow to find a political solution to the conflict.
"Some our partners, and [US Secretary of State] John Kerry mentioned that a couple of days or a week should be enough," he told the government daily, Rossiskaya Gazeta.
"Previous peace conferences have lasted months, even years," he added. "I don't want it to be the same with Syria. But it's absolutely counterproductive to set artificial time restrictions."
He also stressed the need to invite Iran, President Assad's strongest ally.
The UN says more than 80,000 people have been killed since the anti-government protests erupted in March 2011.