Hezbollah and the Syrian army pushed deeper into the Qalamoun city of Zabadani Wednesday, tightening the noose on Syrian militants who are besieged in their last stronghold along Lebanon’s border.
Allied forces destroyed a militant convoy using rocket fire in the Al-Zahra neighborhood, located in northwest Zabadani, the Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV reported Wednesday.
The attack, according to the report, killed all the passengers in the vehicle.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian warplanes continued to fire at militant positions in the city, as the army, backed by Hezbollah, clashed with rebel factions.
According to the Observatory's report, at least one man was killed as a result of the clashes and several others were wounded. The report did not identify which side the casualty belonged to.
Meanwhile, a rebel fighter succumbed to his wounds after being shot by a sniper in previous battles, the Observatory reported.
Wednesday’s advance comes one day after allied forces destroyed a 360-meter tunnel passed under the main highway linking Zabadani, located 8 kilometers from Lebanon’s eastern border, to the village of Madaya.
The rebels have been largely trapped in the town after most of their exit routes were cut off in the first few days of the fighting.
The allied forces issued an ultimatum to Syrian rebels over the weekend to either surrender or die. Before Tuesday, at least 43 rebels had surrendered, according to the source, with a further nine surrendering Tuesday.
Hezbollah and the Syrian army launched the offensive to retake the town around the start of the month, hoping to bolster their control of land routes between Lebanon and Syria.
The source said over the weekend that Hezbollah’s overall death toll stood at 12, while at least 16 Syrian army soldiers and 200 militants had been killed in the battle.
The capture of the largest Qalamoun city would add to Hezbollah’s recent victories in Lebanon’s eastern mountain range since launching a wider offensive to oust militants from the border region in early May.
Zabadani is located on the southern end of Qalamoun, about 50 kilometers northwest of Damascus and 12 kilometers northeast of Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing.
