Syrian forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies seized control of the border town of Qusair on Wednesday, June 5 dealing a strategic defeat to rebel fighters battling for two years to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters said.
Outgunned rebels said they had retreated from Qusair, which lies on a vital cross-border supply route with Lebanon, after two weeks of fierce battles that marked the Shi'ite Hezbollah group's deepest involvement yet in Syria's civil war.
A Hezbollah fighter told Reuters the town had fallen in a rapid overnight offensive, allowing tanks and troops to roll into the rubble-strewn streets after dawn, with many buildings in the city center reduced to mounds of twisted concrete.
Bolstered by his Iranian and Russian backers, Assad's forces have launched a series of counter-offensives in recent weeks against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels battling to overthrow him and end his minority Alawite family's four-decade grip on power.
A member of a pro-Assad Syrian militia said the military focus may now move to the northern province of Aleppo, which has been largely in rebel hands for the last year.
