Roundup: Syrian army works on securing mountainous area near Lebanon

The Syrian army has been on a broad offensive against al-Qaida-linked militants in a mountainous region northwest of the capital Damascus and adjacent to the Lebanese borders, local press and sources said Monday.

The state news agency SANA said tens of militants of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front were killed during the five-day long battles in the western mountains of the town of Zabadani, around 45 km northwest of Damascus. The rugged terrain is also entwined with the anti-Lebanon mountain range.

It said Syrian government forces are advancing in the western mountains of Zabadani, adding that the army on Monday regained full control over the so-called 1715 hilltop, just a day after the troops wrested back control over four positions in that mountainous area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog group, also reported that intense clashes are taking place in the western part of Zabadani, stopping short of giving further details.

Military experts said the military operation waged by Syrian army aims at cleaning the western side of the Zabadani mountains and restrain the movement of the jihadist militants between Syria and Lebanon through this rugged terrain.

A source familiar with the operation told Xinhua that the operation has a strategic importance as it would enable the Syrian army to secure the vicinity of the al-Masna'a border point with Lebanon, the main route from the capital Damascus to Lebanon, and to besiege the rebels entrenched in the town of Zabadani.

Before launching the operation, the Syrian military forces were shelling and carrying out airstrikes against the rebel positions in Zabadani. A few days ago, the troops backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah intervened on ground.

The wide-scale offensive was triggered when the armed militants attacked military checkpoint in the western foothills of Zabadani and captured two checkpoints, said the source, adding that the rebels advanced in the area and posed a threat to the al-Masna'a border point before they were repelled by the Syrian troops and Hezbollah, which has an interest in securing the area because it has training camps near it.

Kamel Saqer, a political expert, said the Syrian army is now wrapping its forces around the town of Zabadani, controlling several strategic hilltops around it, as part of "border control" efforts, "which are extremely important because the next stage will be fully besieging the rebels inside Zabadani as a prelude to capturing it."

He added the progress there would positively rebound on the situation in the northern countryside of Damascus.

The intensification in the military operation in Zabadani comes also after the Syrian government lost the northwestern city of Idlib, the second provincial capital to fall to the al-Qaida-linked militants. Endit