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Syrian foes move towards talks but fighting rages

22 May 2013 02:57 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Syria's opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad seem to be preparing to take part in an international peace conference against a background of some of the worst fighting this year, APA reports quoting Reuters.

On Tuesday, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, opposition activists said.

Bitter fighting in the town since Sunday has claimed the lives of up to 50 fighters from the Iranian-backed guerrilla group, among their worst losses so far in the war, and prompted renewed fears that Syria's two-year-old civil war will spread beyond the country's borders.

A senior U.S. official said reports from Syrian rebel commanders indicated that Iranians were at Qusair along with fighters from Lebanese Hezbollah.

"It is the most visible effort that we have seen of Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force and we understand there are also Iranians up there. That is what the Free Syrian Army commanders are telling us," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

While it was not clear what the Iranians were doing, he said "they could be doing a little of both advising and fighting".

In further hostilities, Syria announced for the first time since the civil war began that its soldiers had targeted Israel's armed forces. It said its troops had destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed into Syrian territory from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel's most senior general warned Assad he would bear the consequences of any further escalation on the Golan Heights. Israel said the incident took place on its side of the Golan ceasefire line, that the vehicle was only damaged, none of its soldiers were hurt and they returned fire.

Violence has left at least 80,000 Syrians dead as world powers have argued over how to end it but on Tuesday foreign diplomats said Assad's government was preparing to join a peace conference promoted by the United States and Russia, while his opponents said they too were ready to take part.