BEIRUT , APR 13 -
The commandos infiltrated Syrian rebel-held territory near the Lebanese
border, watching rebel fighters come and go from a two-story villa
before slipping inside to plant a powerful bomb. The next morning, they
detonated it as three rebel explosive experts and four assistants met
inside, turning the villa to rubble in seconds.
The operation late last month in Syria's western Qalamoun region was carried out by fighters from Lebanon's militant Hezbollah
group, several Lebanese officials close to the militants have told The
Associated Press. The Shiite group has sent hundreds of its fighters
into Syria to shore up President Bashar Assad's overstretched troops,
helping them gain ground around the capital, Damascus, and near the
Lebanese border.
But with its own casualties mounting in a civil war that activists say
has killed more than 150,000 people in three years, officials say Hezbollah
has turned to a variety of new tactics — including complicated
commando operations — to hunt down rebels and opposition commanders.
The aim of the new strategy, that includes hit-and-run attacks as well
as reconnaissance missions, is to help Assad hold onto power, limit Hezbollah casualties and attack groups that want to launch attacks inside Lebanon itself.
" Hezbollah
is also well aware of its comparatively limited manpower capacity,"
said Charles Lister, an analyst with the Brookings Doha Center. "So
exploiting an ability to inflict damage on the enemy without expending
significant resources ... is a natural strategic development."
Hezbollah
has a long history of guerrilla attacks. It fought Israel in the wake
of its occupation of south Lebanon until it pulled out in 2000, relying
on hit-and-run assaults to combat Israel's army.
In Syria, the turning point in Hezbollah
's strategy came after the group helped secure the Syrian border town
of Qusair last June, said the Lebanese officials, who spoke on condition
of anonymity to discuss Hezbollah military tactics. After that battle, they say rebels ambushed and killed four elite Hezbollah fighters after Syrian troops told them the area was secure.
Now, Hezbollah sends small groups of fighters to observe areas before entering, the officials say. One official said Hezbollah
also has linked Syrian territories where it is present to its bases in
Lebanon via a secure, hard-wired telecommunication network it has been
using back home for years. The fighters avoid using mobile phones or
other equipment easy to monitor, the official said.
The attack on the villa in Qalamoun also showcases the turn to
commando-style fighting. Syrian state media said Syrian troops carried
out the attack. However, Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Akhbar that is
sympathetic to Assad, said both Syrian troops and Hezbollah special forces carried out the attack.
Observers of the group and experts say the Qalamoun attack was consistent with similar operations carried out by Hezbollah in the past.
"Covert and targeted Hezbollah
operations further into Syria's interior or into 'enemy territory' is
not such a surprising development," Lister said. "After all, Hezbollah
training incorporates all the capabilities necessary for such
operations, and there is a precedent for similar tactical evolutions,
particularly against Israel."
Lister added that the attack "opens its forces up to being able to
expand their operational capacity to include covert qualitative attacks
on enemy infrastructure and senior leadership."
An opposition activist in Qalamoun who uses the name Amer al-Qalamouni
told the AP that the three men, part of an engineering unit, were killed
while preparing a bomb and did not die in an operation carried out by
Syrian troops or Hezbollah .
"Had the bomb been detonated by the army or Hezbollah we would have said that but they did not," al-Qalamouni said by telephone from Syria. "They ( Hezbollah and army) want to take credit that they killed them." He did not elaborate.
A spokesman for largely secretive Hezbollah
declined to comment when asked if its commandos carried out the
Qalamoun attack, saying he had no information about it. The group's
television station Al-Manar, however, hailed the "qualitative operation"
and aired black-and-white photographs of the villa before and after the
attack.
Al-Manar said the operation was carried 11 kilometers (7 miles) deep inside rebel territories near the area of Hawsh Arab.
The station also reported that the three bomb experts killed were
behind suicide attacks that targeted Lebanon. That also offers further
motivation for Hezbollah
to carry out such an attack. Syrian rebel groups and those supporting
them increasingly carry out suicide attacks and other assaults in Shiite
neighborhoods in Lebanon as revenge for Hezbollah 's support of Assad. Dozens have been killed in recent months, the bulk of whom are usually civilians.
Lebanon itself remains deeply split over Syria's increasingly sectarian
civil war. Assad comes from a Shiite offshoot sect and the rebels
fighting him are dominated by Sunnis. Stopping the attacks in Lebanon
could ease those tensions and help Hezbollah 's own image at home.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops continue to reap the benefits of Hezbollah 's experience.
"Since the crisis started until now there has been major development in
the performance of Syrian forces," said Qassim Qassir, a Hezbollah expert who writes for the Lebanese daily newspaper As-Safir.
One of the deadliest operations against rebels in Syria occurred in
February when forces loyal to Assad killed 175 rebels, many of them
al-Qaida-linked fighters, in an ambush near Damascus. The attack —
filmed and broadcast exclusively by Al-Manar — was described as one of
the deadliest attacks by government forces against fighters near the
capital since the crisis began in March 2011. Many believe Hezbollah orchestrated the assault because of Al-Manar having access and due to the fact the group's fighters are active in the region.
The Lebanese officials close to Hezbollah
said the group's fighters spearhead operations near the Lebanon
border, where they pound areas with artillery, multiple rocket launchers
and mortars before storming it. Once they get an area under control,
they hand it over to Syrian troops or pro-government Syrian militiamen
known as the National Defense Forces.
"They don't trust anyone," an official said. "They were ambushed several times and lost a number of elite fighters."
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