LATEST: 4 Killed by Suicide Bomb in Lebanon Near Syrian Border

SUNDAY FEATURE

The New Poster-Boy Commander & Insurgents’ “Moderate” Strategy to Get US Support

UPDATE 1230 GMT: Well-placed sources confirm, “Insurgents have started retreating to prepared positions. Final fall of Yabroud is only a matter of hours.”

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV broadcasting from northeastern Yabroud:

Pro-Assad forces replace insurgent flag with regime’s banner:


Syrian troops and Hezbollah have finally entered the city of Yabroud, after a month-long offensive.

Al-Mayadeen showed footage of Assad forces moving through fields, asserting they were at the eastern gate of the city, the largest in the Qalamoun region between Damascus and the Lebanese border. The troops reportedly took hills overlooking Yabroud, surrounding it on three sides.

State news agency SANA goes farther this morning, claiming the Syrian army advanced 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) into the city and “established control of several blocks of buildings before reaching Yabround roundabout in the center”. The article does not indicate if the troops remain in Yabroud.

A “military source” told Reuters that troops were clearing out insurgents and dismantling roadside bombs.

Abu al-Huda al-Homsi, an activist in Qalamoun, said Syrian forces entered the city under a cover of aerial and artillery attacks: “They used a scorched-earth policy, showering us with tens of shells every day until he fighters were forced to withdraw.”

The opposition Local Coordination Committees confirmed Syrian troops and Hezbollah were inside Yabroud, but deny the city has fallen.

A member of the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra in Yabroud told Al Jazeera that insurgents were withdrawing to nearby villages such as Hosh Arab, Rankous, and Flita. However, well-placed sources said that the fighters were not retreating, but helping evacuate civilians from the city.

The Syrian military has bombarded Yabroud for weeks with barrel bombs and rockets. Thousands of the city’s 60,000 residents have fled for Lebanon.

Pro-regime report:

Claimed footage of regime forces in action:

Fighting on the Rima Farms front:


4 Killed by Suicide Bomb in Lebanon Near Syrian Border

A suicide car bomber killed at least four people, including two Hezbollah members, and wounded 11 in Nabi Othman village in east Lebanon on Sunday night.

The bomber blew up his vehicle as Hezbollah security personnel were trying to stop him.

Jabhat al-Nusra, a leading faction in the Syrian conflict, and The Brigade of Free Sunnis in Baalbek claimed responsibility.

The bombing is the first in Lebanon in 22 days, in a wave that started in Beirut last summer and killed scores of people.

Videos: Regime Airstrikes Throughout Idlib Province on Saturday

Smoke rises from a regime attack on Jabal al-Zawiya:

Graphic footage has been posted of bodies strewn across the site of an airstrike on Maarat al-Nu’man.

Coordinated Insurgent Offensive Takes 6 Villages from ISIS in Aleppo Province

Insurgent outlets claim a co-ordinated offensive between the Islamic Front, Jaish al-Muhammad, and Jabhat al-Nusra has taken six villages from the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham in eastern Aleppo Province.