BEIRUT – Syrian helicopters fired rockets near a Lebanese border area whose residents back the rebellion against President Bashar Al-Assad, a security official said, in the latest incident raising new concerns of Syria-related escalation in Lebanon. The late Friday raid was second such Syrian strike against the Sunni-majority border areas in less than a week. “Syrian helicopters fired rockets at the Wadi Hmeid area near the town of Arsal. There were no casualties,” the Lebanese official said on condition of anonymity. The attack was the latest in a series related to the escalating war in Syria, in which Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has become fully engaged. On Wednesday, a Syrian helicopter strafed Arsal, the majority of whose residents are Sunni and support the anti-Assad revolt in Syria. The latest raid comes soon after the Syrian town of Qusayr was captured by the regime army and Hezbollah fighters from the rebels after nearly three-weeks of fierce fighting. Syrian government troops backed by Hezbollah guerrillas seized the western village of Buwayda on Saturday, extinguishing final rebel resistance around the town of Qusayr in a fresh success for Assad. The swift fall of Buwayda came just three days after rebels were swept out of Qusayr, denying them a previously important supply route into neighbouring Lebanon and giving renewed momentum to Assad's forces battling a two-year civil war. Activist sources said dozens of rebels, including a number of foreigner fighters, were captured alive in Buwayda, but there was no immediate word of their fate. Fighting flared elsewhere in Syria, including close to the capital Damascus and in the northern Aleppo province, which is expected to be the focus of renewed attack by Assad's forces following the collapse of the Qusayr front. Video posted on YouTube showed what activists said was a twin missile strike on the village of Kfarhamra, near Aleppo, sending a huge cloud of smoke billowing into the blue sky. There was no immediate word on casualties. The United Nations estimates at least 80,000 people have died in the conflict. UN humanitarian agencies launched a $5 billion appeal on Friday, the biggest in their history, to cope with the fallout from the fighting that has sent some 1.6 million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries. Syrian state television broadcast live from the deserted streets of Buwayda, 13-km (eight miles) northeast of Qusayr, showing destroyed buildings, debris-strewn roads and large numbers of boxes full of unused ammunition. “We sacrifice our blood and souls for you Syria,” a group of soldiers chanted in the background. Rebel groups from across Syria had sent hundreds of men into the Qusayr area to try to stave off the assault by the Syrian army and well-trained Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, but they were rapidly overwhelmed, with activists complaining of a lack of arms and poor coordination. “We want weapons, we want ammunition and advanced weapons,” he told Al Arabiya television via Skype. – Agencies
