Hezbollah-backed Syria troops oust rebels from Qusayr

Syrian troops ousted rebels from the strategic town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border on Wednesday after a devastating 17-day assault led by Hezbollah fighters from across the frontier. The boost for government forces in a 26-month conflict that has increasingly stalemated came as France said the international community was now obliged to respond to test results from both French and British laboratories confirming the use of banned nerve agent sarin. Washington has always said that confirmation of battlefield use of Syria's known chemical arsenal or any other weapon of mass destruction would be a "game-changer" for Western policy towards the conflict that monitors say has killed more than 94,000 people. US and Russian envoys have been working with the United Nations for weeks to try to organise a peace conference, but after new preparatory talks on Wednesday delegates acknowledged that no meeting would happen before next month. The two major outside powers have been struggling to overcome strong objections from the rebels to a proposed invitation to the government side without a prior commitment that President Bashar al-Assad step down. The rebels conceded they had lost Qusayr after controlling it for a year, but opposition interim leader George Sabra declared they would fight on "until the whole country is liberated". The army, for its part, said the "heroic victory" in the offensive, launched on May 19, served as a warning that it would "crush" the rebels and bring "security and stability to every inch of our land". The battle for Qusayr, a conduit for fighters and weapons just 10 kilometres (six miles) from Lebanon and linking Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, left the town in ruins. Its capture opens the way for forces loyal to Assad to move on the central city of Homs, much of which the rebels still control. Analyst Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center said the capture of Qusayr was a "clear advantage" for the regime and demoralising for the rebels. "What Qusayr confirms is that the regime's fall is not inevitable and, in fact, the rebels might actually lose," he told AFP. State television showed tanks rolling through deserted streets strewn with dust and bricks from shattered buildings, as well as cases of rockets which fleeing rebels apparently abandoned in a hideout. "We are in their den. Look at their rocket stockpiles," an army officer told the channel. Soldiers looked on, their Kalashnikov assault rifles lowered, as bulldozers cleared away debris in the main square, where Syria's flag flew atop a badly damaged clock tower. The rebels admitted "this is a round that we have lost," but added they would fight on against "the thousands of Lebanese mercenaries". The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army and fighters from the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah had taken Qusayr after an "intense bombardment" on Tuesday night. "The rebels have withdrawn... because they were short of ammunition," it said. The Britain-based watchdog said at least 11 government troops were killed and 25 wounded in the fighting for the town in the early hours. As British technicians confirmed the findings of French laboratories that sarin gas had been used in the Syrian conflict, French President Francois Hollande said the world was obliged to respond. "We have provided the elements of proof that now obligate the international community to act," Hollande told reporters in Paris after France revealed that it had firm evidence sarin had been used by the Syrian regime in at least one case. Britain has also said it has evidence of sarin use, but added that it will wait for independent verification by the UN before drawing any conclusions about what, if any, action to take. On Tuesday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe both sides had used chemical weapons. Russian, UN and US envoys meeting in Geneva failed to set a date for a widely anticipated international peace conference for Syria amid continued disagreement over who should take part. "It will not be possible to hold this conference in June," UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters, adding that the talks could happen "hopefully in July." A senior US official, who asked not to be named, told reporters that one stumbling block was "the opposition coalition forming itself, naming its representatives, agreeing on a delegation." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Iran's participation, opposed by many Western and Arab governments but championed by Moscow, was also an obstacle. "It's a matter of principle because the whole composition of the conference should be balanced," he said. At a meeting in Cairo, Arab foreign ministers gave their support to the Russian and US plans. Ministers called for "efforts to persuade all the warring parties to allow logic and dialogue and negotiations to prevail in order to find a political solution between Syrians, as the only means."