Residents risk massacre as Hezbollah `invading` Syria`s Qusair: Rebels chief

Zee Media Bureau

Beirut: As many as 7000 Hezbollah fighters were involved in attacks on key Syrian town of Qusair, said the chief of rebel group Free Syrian Army, reports said Thursday. Speaking in an interview to the BBC, the rebel chief General Selim Idriss claimed that fighters from Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, numbering over 7000, were “invading” Syrian town of Qusair where more than 50, 000 residents were trapped. Gen Idriss lamented that his group FSA was far outnumbered and out-gunned by the Hezbollah fighters as there were only 1500 Syria rebels armed with light weapons in Qusair. The rebel chief further made a plea to world powers for help and more weapons, fearing that thousands of residents of Qusair risked a massacre if Hezbollah fighters went on attacking. "We are dying. Please come and help us,” Gen Idriss said on the BBC. The rebel chief also claimed that there were Iranian fighters involved in the battle for Qusair, besides Hezbollah’s troops Lebanese militants have been gathering in Syria’s Qusair for some time now as Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed to bring victory to Assad recently. The presence of Hezbollah fighters has been condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as it adopted a resolution Wednesday, condemning the intervention of foreign combatants in Syrian city of Qusair. The resolution, adopted after an urgent debate held during the council`s 23rd session, expressed deep concern that "their involvement further exacerbates the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation, which has a serious negative impact on its region".