Syrian troops buoyed by victory in Qusayr were preparing today to launch a northern offensive, a security source said, as the conflict came to the streets of Beirut where a demonstrator was killed.
At a protest outside the Iranian embassy against the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah’s direct involvement in the Syrian conflict, a man was shot and fatally wounded in the first such shooting in Beirut linked to the 26--month war.
A Syrian security source told AFP that after its capture from rebel forces of the strategic region of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon with the support of Hezbollah fighters, the regime’s next target was Aleppo province in the north.
“It is likely the battle for Aleppo will start in the coming hours or days, and its aim is to reclaim the towns and villages in the province,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“The Syrian Arab army is ready to carry out its mission in this province.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported the regime was deploying “thousands of soldiers” in the Aleppo region, aiming to recapture rebel posts and sever supply routes from neighbouring Turkey.
On the international front, Britain said Syrian government gains on the ground had made organising peace talks harder, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Syria’s conflict by telephone.
The announcement of a potential new offensive comes five days after the army expelled rebels from Qusayr in central-west Syria.
Syrians were shown today firing into the air and waving portraits of President Bashar al--Assad in Qusayr to celebrate the government’s victory, in footage broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al--Manar television.
Syrian daily Al--Watan said the army has “started to deploy at a large scale in Aleppo province, in preparation for a battle that will be fought in the city and its outskirts“.
Rebels last July launched a massive assault on Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial hub. The city has since suffered daily regime bombardment and clashes.
Al--Watan also said “the Syrian army will take advantage of its experience in Qusayr and Eastern Ghouta (near Damascus) to advance in the (central) province of Hama and Homs” nearby.