Syria: Opposition’s Booby Trap Blueprint for Qusayr

Syria: Opposition’s Booby Trap Blueprint for Qusayr
By Radwan MortadaMay 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -"Al-Akhbar" -  Syrian opposition fighters fortressed in the Syrian town of Qusayr move about freely. From their hideouts, they operate electrical generators and satellite communications devices to connect with militant groups outside the town, requesting assistance or touching base with the media.

Along with their requests, they upload videos documenting the clashes and send images of the battlefield. These could be photos, exclusive videos, or interviews with field commanders who speak of "young men's morale as big as a mountain" and "major losses inflicted on the attackers." They deny all news about the Syrian army and Hezbollah “controlling more than two-thirds of Qusayr."

As for the images broadcast by television channels, a fighter tells Al-Akhbar via Skype that "the army has been in control of the eastern neighborhood for two years." He describes "heavy bombardment around the clock” and explains that "most martyrs fall due to the shelling." However, he denies news about the adversary's advances in the city.

The same fighter reveals that the clashes are taking place on nine fronts, the most significant being al-Mashtal checkpoint, Samir Raad checkpoint, al-Dabaa village, al-Basatin area, the agricultural bank checkpoint, and a new front that just began in the village of Heet.

As for the situation on the ground in Qusayr yesterday, he indicates the fall of "four martyrs from the rebels and a civilian martyr, in addition to dozens of injuries due to the shelling."

Qusayr is completely booby-trapped and will turn into a ball of fire as soon as Nasrallah's men step inside.

In the same context, armed Syrian opposition sources announce to Al-Akhbar the “creation of a military council including all the commanders of the groups fighting in Qusayr." They reveal that the head of the military council is Lieutenant Colonel Mohieddin al-Zain, AKA Abu Arab, and will include several field commanders, including al-Farouq Brigade's chief, Abu Ali. Recently, Abu Ali appeared speaking to a camera over the body of a Hezbollah fighter.

Another prominent leader is Abul-Baraa, who leads a group of al-Nusra Front fighters. Opposition sources also mention that several al-Qaeda inspired Islamists managed to join the groups fighting in Qusayr through the Syrian section of the Qalamoun mountains located south of the town. They chose Abul-Baraa as their Emir and are fighting under his banner.

The aforementioned "emir" says, "The battle will be long and Qusayr is completely booby-trapped and will turn into a ball of fire as soon as Nasrallah's men step inside." He concludes, "We succeeded in luring Hezbollah's fighters and Assad's army to where we wanted."

He explains that everything in the neighborhoods, from houses, tunnels, and holes, are booby trapped. Abul-Baraa adds that they had set up four defense lines made of minefields around the city.

"The regime's army and the party's fighters called in explosives experts to dismantle the first line, then the second, then the third. While they were busy with the fourth, we pounced on them," he says.

Concerning the living conditions in the town, the fighters maintain that electricity had been cut off since before the latest battles. Water was "also cut off from the city." Internet is accessed through global satellites and mobile networks "like Inmarsat and BGAN," which is the Broadband Global Area Network.

They also mention a serious lack of medical supplies and ammunition, revealing that the field hospital “has been completely destroyed, so we have to carry the injured on our shoulders to be treated inside homes."

On the other side of the battle, sources informed of the military operations against Qusayr tell Al-Akhbarthat "booby trapped trenches and tunnels hindered the progress of the attacking units."

The same sources maintain that "the fighters are operating sophisticated sniper guns by remote control." The sniper is able to hide somewhere and monitor targets over a video screen.

In a preliminary evaluation of military operations, the sources stress that "there have been ground achievements" and that "only a few days are between us and the eradication of the armed groups."

While some information points to an attempt to end the battle before Hassan Nasrallah's speech on Saturday, other information reveals that more time is needed.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

Hezbollah Opens ‘Historic Wounds’ in Qusair

By Hussein Dakroub, Niamh Fleming-FarrellMay 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -"Daily Star" --  BEIRUT: Joining the fight in Syria may be part of Hezbollah’s strategy to defend the resistance, political analysts have told The Daily Star, but the party’s involvement, regardless of the outcome of the conflict there, is likely to alter Sunni-Shiite relations in Lebanon irreversibly. Analyst Qassem Kassir contends Hezbollah has a clear strategic goal, in line with its larger objectives, in joining the fight in Syria.

“The fighting in Qusair is not a gamble by Hezbollah. The party considers it is fighting a strategic battle in Qusair to defend the resistance,” Kassir, an expert on Islamist movements, told The Daily Star.

“Hezbollah has a strategic vision which says that what is happening in Syria is an international battle for Syria’s position. Hezbollah considers protecting Syria similar to protecting the resistance and the party’s arms supply route,” he continued. “Hezbollah is fighting to foil attempts to take Syria to the American-Israeli axis.”

For a fifth consecutive day Thursday, Syrian government troops backed by elite Hezbollah fighters fought rebels in the strategic Syrian town of Qusair just 10 kilometers from the Lebanese border.

Thus far, the party’s losses have been heavy, with bodies returning to hometowns in Lebanon’s north, Bekaa Valley and south.

Kamel Wazne of the Center for American Strategic Studies believes Hezbollah’s participation in Syria is part of a “calculated gamble.”

He contends that the war currently playing out in Syria between Iran and its allies and the U.S.-Israeli axis is one that would eventually have come to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“The war that is taking place in Syria is the war that should be happening in Lebanon,” Wazne said. “They [Hezbollah] took the fight to Syria to battle it out.”

But, while in Wazne’s estimate, Hezbollah is “preventing the war from moving to Lebanon,” other analysts say even though widespread civil strife is not imminent on Lebanese soil, lasting repercussions from Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s party’s involvement in Syria will eventually be felt.

Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, agreed that Hezbollah’s actions in Syria have “created a lasting wedge between them and Lebanese Sunnis.”

“Irrespective of the outcome of the Syrian conflict, Sunni-Shiite relations in Lebanon will never be the same again,” he said. “Historical wounds have been opened.”

Even though sectarian clashes in the northern city of Tripoli had Thursday morning killed 16 since Sunday, Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese Army general and the current director of Beirut-based think tank the Middle East Center for Political Studies and Research, told The Daily Star he does not think the present divisions will develop into a military conflict.

“Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria will further fuel sectarian divisions,” Jaber admitted, explaining that “Lebanon is sharply divided between Sunnis who are against the Syrian regime and Shiites who support it.”

But, he continued, “I don’t think that this division will escalate into a military conflict.”

Jaber and other analysts contend the appetite for larger scale strife in Lebanon is curbed on a number of levels, with both local and international political actors committed to avoiding any large scale escalation at present.

Wazne pointed out that “at this moment there is agreement between [Lebanon’s] political parties to keep the security situation under great care,” while Paul Salem of the Carnegie Center, Beirut, said Lebanon’s big international patrons are keen to maintain stability here.

Jaber elaborated on this: “There is an international decision to prevent a civil war in Lebanon for now and to keep the status quo as long as the war is raging in neighboring Syria,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia and Iran, which wield great influence in Lebanon, have no interest in the outbreak of strife in the country.

Meanwhile Talal Atrissi, a Lebanese University Lecturer with expertise on Iran and the Middle East explained to The Daily Star: “Saudi Arabia has no interest in seeing the situation in Lebanon spiral out of control or slide into Sunni-Shiite strife. A sectarian strife in Lebanon will affect the kingdom where there is a Shiite population.”

“Despite Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian fighting, particularly in Qusair, there are no fears of an outbreak of Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon because there is a regional and international decision against destabilizing Lebanon,” Atrissi added.

And while analysts generally don’t deem civil war in Lebanon an immediate threat, they do express concern over the repercussions of the outcome of the Syria conflict on Lebanon.

Should the Assad regime collapse, Jaber, the retired army general, cautioned that civil war will result in Lebanon and other countries.

“If the [Assad] regime falls and the opposition and jihadist groups take control of most of the country, a civil war will erupt in Syria that would lead to the country’s partition,” Jaber said. “The civil war would spread to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The situation would be out of control.”

However, if Assad prevails in Syria, Khashan warned that the “the 21st century might become the golden age of Hezbollah.”

“Should Asad’s regime prevail in Syria, Hezbollah’s preponderance in Lebanon will consolidate and it would become virtually impossible to contest it,” Khashan said. “Such a development would place Hezbollah one good step forward toward the installation of an Islamic state in Lebanon.”

He added that the party had never disavowed this objective.

Meanwhile, Carnegie’s Salem wondered if the only fault line likely to be drawn by this latest Hezbollah action was between Sunnis and Shiites.

Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria may also, he speculated, have an impact within the Shiite community in Lebanon, which is now being “asked to fight a different war on a different territory, in a different situation” to that which it traditionally committed to.

So far, Salem said, the Shiite community has absorbed Hezbollah’s decision to become involved in Syria, but he questioned how long their tolerance can endure.