15 Syrians Wounded in Qalamun Evacuated to Lebanese Hospitals

by Naharnet Newsdesk 23 June 2014, 20:38

Fifteen Syrians wounded in battles in Syria's Qalamun region were evacuated Monday to hospitals inside Lebanon.

“Fifteen Syrians injured in Qalamun's battles were transferred by the Lebanese Red Cross via the (Bekaa) town of Arsal to hospitals in Tripoli and western Bekaa,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Twelve of the wounded were taken to Tripoli through the Hermel-Qoubaiyat road and three of them were admitted into hospitals in western Bekaa, according to NNA.

The agency identified 12 of the injured as Mohammed Jomaa, Muhannad Othman, Bilal Baloush, Nabil Hamda, Asaad al-Qarqour, Mohammed al-Nimr, Hussam Suleiman, Oday Zahreddine, Mohammed Hammoud, Ahmed al-Zahedi, Ahmed Sabra and Khaled Qassem.

Syrian troops backed by fighters from Lebanon's Hizbullah on Sunday launched an assault to oust rebels from the foothills of the Qalamun mountains north of Damascus.

Regime forces took parts of the strategic Qalamun region near the border with Lebanon in April, but some 2,000 rebel fighters withdrew to the hills from where they have launched guerrilla attacks.

Syria's state broadcaster showed footage of the troops, saying they had taken "some hills overlooking the Rankus plain and are pursuing terrorist groups who tried to infiltrate the region from Lebanon."

An officer interviewed by the channel said "the army has cut the route off to terrorist groups who try to return to the region from time to time. The operation is continuing until the whole of the Qalamun area has been cleansed."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "rebels hiding in the heights and in caves have been attacking army and Hizbullah positions for weeks after being pushed out of the region, which also prompted regime forces to withdraw."

He said the rebels had launched a counter attack "and succeeded in retaking their positions and expanding their presence."

Y.R.

S.D.B.

https://prod.naharnet.com/stories/en/136204