Syrian troops hand rebels key defeat in Qusair

BAALBEK, Lebanon -- Syrian troops and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies captured a strategic border town yesterday after a grueling three-week battle, dealing a severe blow to rebels and opening the door for President Bashar Assad's regime to seize back the country's central heartland.

The regime triumph in Qusair, which Assad's forces had bombarded for months, demonstrates the potentially game-changing role of Hezbollah in Syria's civil war. The gain could also embolden Assad to push for all-out military victory rather than participate in peace talks being promoted by the United States and Russia.

The Shia militant group lost dozens of fighters in the battle for Qusair, underlining its commitment in support of Assad's regime and edging the fight in Syria further into a regional sectarian conflict pitting the Middle East's Iranian-backed Shia axis against Sunnis.

Most of the armed rebels in Syria are members of the country's Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad has retained core support among the country's minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam, along with Christians and Shia Muslims.

The overt involvement by Hezbollah has raised tensions considerably in Lebanon, where the militants have come under harsh criticism.

The group openly celebrated Qusair's fall. In the predominantly Shia northeastern town of Bazzalieh, Hezbollah supporters set up a checkpoint, distributed sweets to people and fired in the air in celebration. "Today, we defeated the other Israel," declared Ali al-Bazzal, 23, waving a yellow Hezbollah flag.

Both sides had dug in for an all-out battle for Qusair, a key crossroads town of supply lines between Damascus and western and northern Syria that had been under rebel control since early last year.

The blow to the rebel movement -- compounded by deepening divisions in opposition ranks -- was likely to further discourage it from entering peace negotiations with the regime, which the United States and Russia have been trying to put together in Geneva.