PHOTO: Smoke rising over Zabadani from Syrian airstrikes, July 6, 2015

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As the Hezbollah-regime assault on a town northwest of Damascus grinds into its fourth week, rebels are stepping up pressure on two of the last regime enclaves in northwest Syria.

Fighting for rebel-held Zabadani, about 31 km (19 miles) northwest of the capital, continues. State media and pro-Assad outlets have proclaimed since soon after the July 3 offensive that the town will fall any day now, while pro-rebel activists hail resistance and even say that the opposition has counter-attacked against Hezbollah-regime checkpoints.

There was no confirmed shift in the lines inside the town — taken by the Free Syrian Army in January 2012 — on Tuesday, but Hezbollah and the Syrian military said that they had captured the Zabadani Plains to the west.

Rebels said they had moved on regime positions to the east of Zabadani, destroying a tank, taking two checkpoints, and killing and injuring dozens of troops.

The Syrian air force has supported the ground attacks with hundreds of barrel bombs and missiles — footage of airstrikes on Wednesday:

The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, made his first statement on Zabadani on Tuesday. He said that barrel bombing was “causing unprecedented levels of destruction and many deaths among the civilian population”.

De Mistura’s statement came hours after the Syrian opposition criticized UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for his silence over the offensive.

Meanwhile, rebels maintained their bombardment, begun last Thursday, of the regime enclaves of al-Fu’ah and Kafarya in Idlib Province in northwest Syria. Hundreds of shells have been fired, with the opposition testing new weapons such as a 200mm mortar cannon and a refurbished “lava rocket”.

Reports on Tuesday indicated that, in addition to the rockets and shelling, rebels took a few square miles of territory near al-Fu’ah.

Located north of Idlib city, the two fortified enclaves have been besieged but have escaped rebel capture, even as opposition fighters have claimed more than 95% of Idlib Province with a successful offensive this spring.

Opposition Plans Opening of Aleppo University in September

The externally-based opposition Syrian National Coalition says that it has finished initial preparations for the opening of the University of Aleppo in northwest Syria for the academic year 2015-2016.

The Interim Education Ministry said it will announce a date for a test for prospective academics at the university, which is expected to enrol about 10,000 students in September.

The university will adopt the system used in European universities, and plans on opening departments in the liberated areas in other provinces.

An official said that despite many difficulties and obstacles, the Ministry has to secure higher education in liberated areas for students deprived of education for more than four years.

US Claims It Killed Leader of “Khorasan Group” in Northwest Syria

The US military claimed on Tuesday that an airstrike killed the leader of the “Khorasan Group” — fighters inside Syria planning attacks on America and Europe — earlier this month.

The Pentagon said Muhsin al-Fadhli, a Kuwaiti-born jihadist, was killed on July 8 near Sarmada in Idlib Province.

“His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of Al Qa’eda against the United States and our allies and partners,” the Pentagon spokesman, Captain Jeff Davis, said in a written statement.

According to Davis, the strike occurred on July 8 while al-Fadhli was traveling in a vehicle near Sarmada, Syria.

Just before intervening in Syria last year, US intelligence officials spread the claim that the Khorasan Group — operating within the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra — was an imminent threat to the West. Subsequent US-led airstrikes, nominally against the Islamic State, also attacked Jabhat al-Nusra positions in northwest Syria. Scores of fighters and civilians were killed.

No evidence has been produced of the Khorasan Group’s plans. Instead, Davis said that al-Fadhli, then 20 years old, was among the “few trusted Al Qa’eda leaders that received advanced notification of the September 11, 2001, attacks”. The Kuwaiti was also involved in terrorist attacks in October 2002 against U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and on the French ship MV Limburg, according to the Pentagon.

Islamic State Attacks on Hezbollah and Assad Forces Near Qusayr, Close to Lebanese Border

Claims are circulating that Islamic State fighters have attacked Hezbollah and regime positions near Qusayr, inside Syria near Lebanon’s northern border.

Hezbollah’s intervention was vital in a regime victory in spring 2013 which pushed back the rebel challenge in southwestern Syria.

Opposition outlets reported fighting since Sunday in the Naimat hills near Qusayr. A local media activist claimed late Tuesday that ISIS had seized control of the hills, blowing up a regime tank and killing all of the crew.

However, Hezbollah outlets rejected the claims. Al-Manar said, “There is no truth to what certain media outlets have circulated about ISIS militants controlling the Naimat Hills.” Mulhak countered that “an armed group was caught in a well-planned ambush by the Syrian army and Hezbollah”, killing eight fighters.

The opposition site All4Syria said that the Islamic State has taken control of villages in southern Homs Province near Qusayr in recent months.

Reports: At Least 26 Killed in Regime Shelling of Aleppo Neighborhood

Opposition activists report that dozens of people have been killed in regime shelling on Tuesday of the Aleppo neighborhood of Maghayir.

Videos showed an entire block of homes levelled:

One activist said 26 people died, while the Local Coordination Committee reported 42 deaths in and near Aleppo, mostly from the attacks on al-Maghayir and the town of Tal Rifaat.

The LCC said it had confirmed 83 casualties across Syria on Tuesday.

3 Spanish Journalists Missing Near Aleppo; Concerns Also for Japanese Reporter

The Spanish Government said Wednesday that it is trying to establish the status of three Spanish freelance journalists who are missing near Aleppo, while concern is also growing for a Japanese reporter.

Spain’s Justice Minister Rafael Catala said Madrid has no news about the journalists and will contact the Assad regime over the case.

Japanese reporter Jumpei Yasuda, who has reported on the Middle East since 2002 and was abducted in Iraq in 2004, was last in contact on June 23.

Two Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after they were seized by the Islamic State the previous September. Japanese reporter Kenji Goto was executed by the Islamic State in January 2015 after more than three months in captivity.