The capture of Qusayr by Hezbollah and regime forces has been described by many analysts and commentators as a proof of the strength of the Syrian army and of its renewed capacity to take the initiative and go on the offensive.
However, in some ways, the way the battle evolved could also be described as reflecting exactly the opposite.
Indeed, the involvement of Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict is a serious gamble for both the Lebanese movement – which has taken the risk of importing the conflict into its home territory and of being seen as attacking the Sunnis – and for the regime, which does not want to appear as hosting on its soil a movement designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Would these two allies have taken this risk if they did not feel that without Hezbollah participating in the battle there was no way they could win. And what does that say of a Syrian army that is not capable of taking on its own a town of some 30,000 people.
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