A major attack by the Syrian regime on a town west of Homs is being led by the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah, according to the opposition Syrian National Coalition and activists. The area is a key supply route to rebel forces in and around Homs and also on the main road from Damascus to pro-regime Alawite districts further north. Hizbollah fighters are better trained in guerrilla warfare than the regime’s and have taken over from regime forces on the ground and are leading the battle in Qusayr, with its elite forces. It’s not necessarily fighters coming from Lebanon. It’s Hizbollah fighters from Shiite villages on the Syrian side which are inhabited by Lebanese. The war has put great pressure on Lebanon’s fragile internal politics, with Hizbollah supporting the Assad regime and Sunni Muslims supporting the rebels, in some cases with arms and money. The Omar Farouq Brigade, a prominent rebel militia, admitted shelling Shia villages inside Lebanon, a move condemned by Human Rights Watch on Monday. See item 7 below.
Pray: against groups in Lebanon getting further involved in the Syrian conflict, pray for protection for the civilians increasingly paying the price of indiscriminate attacks.