SYRIA RETAKES CROSSING AFTER QUSAIR TRIUMPH
QUNEITRA CROSSING, June 06, 2013 (AFP) - Syria's army recaptured the only Golan Heights crossing on the ceasefire line with Israel Thursday, in another setback for rebels a day after they were blasted out of the strategic town of Qusair.
As the rebels were driven back out of the southwestern plateau, government troops also pursued insurgents who abandoned Qusair, bombarding a nearby village where they fled to along with hundreds of wounded civilians.
Qusair's capture gives President Bashar al-Assad the upper hand if a US-Russian plan for the first direct peace talks between his regime and its opponents materialises, analysts say.
And Russia said Syria's foreign minister would lead a government delegation at the “Geneva 2” talks which have been delayed largely over disagreement in the opposition ranks about who would attend.
The rebels briefly took control of the Quneitra crossing, strategically and symbolically important for its proximity to Israel and to the Syrian capital, before being forced out.
“The Syrian army has recovered control of the crossing, there are sounds of explosions from time to time but far less than in the morning,” an Israeli source said.
An AFP correspondent near the crossing confirmed forces loyal to Assad recaptured the frontier post, saying he could see tanks moving inside the area.
Both the Syrian Observatory for
Two weeks of fierce fighting has left Qusair, once a city of 30,000, ruined with buildings devastated and windows shattered
Human Rights and Israeli army radio said the rebel advance on the plateau was followed by fierce fighting in nearby Quneitra town.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous confirmed there had been “incidents” along the armistice line, and described the situation as “very sensitive”.
In Vienna, the government said Austria would withdraw its UN contingent as the “mission can no longer be maintained for military reasons”.
Shrapnel from the fighting wounded a Philippine UN peacekeeper, the Filipino military said. One Israeli source said an unspecified number of Syrian soldiers had been taken to an Israeli hospital.
The crossing falls within a UN-controlled buffer zone.
It is the only direct passage between Israel and Syria and used almost exclusively by Druze residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights who are allowed to cross over to study, work or get married.