Syria Hails Qusair Capture as Foreshadowing Rebel Defeat
Source: Bloomberg
The Syrian governmment’s capture of al-Qusair is a “strategic turning point” marking the beginning of the end for the armed opposition, Syria’s premier said, as the army promised mercy for surrendering rebels.
Retaking the city opens the door “for successive victories across all Syrian territory,” Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi was quoted as saying by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency today. Al-Qusair, which is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Homs and controls the road to the Lebanese border, was so severely shelled that not a single building is free of blast damage, according to a BBC reporter at the scene.
“The government won’t allow any group or gang or individual to point a gun at the head of the state or the people, and there will be no weapons on Syrian territory except for the weapons of the Syrian army,” al-Halaqi said.
While the rebels yesterday described their defeat at al-Qusair as only a single battle in the two-year war to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, they have suffered a series of reverses this year, losing ground near the cities of Aleppo and Damascus. Otaibah, to the east of the capital, fell after a 37-day battle, along with the southern town of Sanamein and Aziza in the north. Assad told Al Manar television on May 30 that the balance of power had shifted in favor of his army.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-06/syria-hails-qusair-capture-as-foreshadowing-rebel-defeat.html
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