See also Middle East Today: Turkey --- Mass Protests and Clashes Move Beyond Istanbul
Sunday's Syria Today: The Civilians Trapped in Qusayr
The Syrian conflict spilled over into Lebanon on Sunday, with the first deaths from ground fighting since the challenge to President Assad arose in March 2011.
Lebanese security sources said 15 insurgents were slain and at least one member of Lebanon's Hezbollah organisation killed overnight east of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley near the border.
Lebanese security sources reported the death on Sunday, saying that about 15 rebels had also been killed in the violence, east of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley.
There were reports that the Hezbollah fighters attacked insurgents as they set up rocket launchers to fire at Hezbollah-held villages on the border.
Rockets have hit the Bekaa Valley in recent weeks, and fighting between pro- and anti-Assad groups in Tripoli in northern Lebanon killed more than 30 people last month.
Report: US Discussing Placement of Patriot Missiles in Jordan
A senior Pentagon official has said that the US and Jordan are discussing the possibility of sending American Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries to the Kingdom, amid the Syrian conflict and the training and arming of insurgents from a base in Jordan.
The official emphasised that an agreement over the deployment has not been reached. However, he said the missile batteries could be flown to Jordan within days and used initially as part of a multinational military exercise in June.
Videos: Insurgents Capture Salba Energy Plant in Hama
Video footage posted by the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front of the Farouk Islamic Brigades, who claim to have captured the Salba Energy Plant in eastern Hama.
Dr Kasem Alzein, who coordinates treatment in several makeshift hospitals in the besieged town, has said that 300 seriously injured residents need to be evacuated for medical treatment.Alzein said evacuation efforts by local medical teams failed after a convoy was attacked last week, killing 13 of the injured.
Claimed video of Alzein in a makeshift clinic in Qusayr:
Russia Blocks UN Declaration on Qusayr
Diplomats said Sunday that Russia has blocked a United Nations Security Council declaration over the regime siege of the town of Qusayr, near the Lebanese border.
Britain, current President of the Council, circulated a draft statement to fellow members voicing "grave concern about the situation in al-Qusair, Syria, and in particular the impact on civilians of the ongoing fighting".
The opposition Syrian National National Coaliation condemned Moscow:
By exercising veto power, the Russian government confirms its support of the Assad regime. This action is consistent with Russia’s role of supplying weapons to suppress and kill innocent Syrians, and further the destruction of Syria....As a result, Russia has become a partner in the murder of innocent Syrian civilians.
Hezbollah Commander Claims 2000 Fighters in Aleppo Province
A "senior commander" in Hezbollah has said that about 2000 of its fighters are now stationed in Aleppo Province, mainly in Shia towns north of Aelppo city.
Thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah militants were massed around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, according to rebels and a senior commander in the Lebanese Shiite movement, broadening Hezbollah’s backing of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and stoking fears of an imminent assault on the city.The Free Syrian Army has warned that Hezbollah, prominent in fighting in Homs Province and near the Lebanese border, is gathering for support of a regime attack on insurgent-held areas of Aleppo city.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has effectively been divided since insurgents attacked and took neighbourhoods in July 2012.
“The Aleppo battle has started on a very small scale; we’ve only just entered the game,” said the Hezbollah commander --- on leave from fighting near the besieged town of Qusayr, on the Lebanon border --- in an interview in Beirut on Saturday. “We are going to go after strongholds where they think they are safe. They are going to fall like dominoes.”
He said the fighters were largely concentrated around the Shiite towns of Zahra and Nubol. A spokesman for Hezbollah said he could not confirm or deny their presence.
Louay al-Mokdad, political and media coordinator for the Free Syrian Army, said Hezbollah militants had gathered at a military academy in Aleppo’s western district of Hamdaniyah. He put the number of soldiers in the area at 4000.
The Local coordination Committees claim that 79 people were killed on Sunday, including 29 in Damascus and its suburbs, 15 in Aleppo Province, and 14 in Daraa Province.
The Violations Documentation Center reports that 62,545 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011, an increase of 128 from Sunday. Of the deaths, 48,407 were civilians, a rise of 54 from yesterday.